THE future looks bright for Bolton cricket if the juniors at Heaton CC are anything to go by.

That comes after the Church Road outfit’s under-11s emerged victorious by 13 runs over their Greenmount counterparts last week.

The match was between the two top teams in the age group in the Bolton League for the U11 cup.

Greenmount batted first and added 74 runs to the starting point of 200 in the 16 overs.

Thomas Sleigh was the pick of the bowlers with 2-7, while Lee Halliwell also took 2-31 and Luca Williams-Denton 1-12.

In reply, Heaton’s victory was down to the impressive innings of man-of-the-match Jaynesh Varsani who batted valiantly during his four overs by scoring 37 runs and did not give away his wicket.

It was a similar situation for Williams-Denton with the bat as he added 29 to help Heaton post 287-3.

Heaton U11s coach Tony Sleigh praised both sides for their efforts in making a cracker of a game.

He said: “It was a great match played in good spirit.

“I thought that it was very competitive which is what you should expect with two of the best teams in the leagues.

“They were both unbeaten heading into the final so it was always going to be of the highest quality.

“The standard of the batting, bowling and fielding were top class.

“I was very impressed with how the two teams were so well disciplined and respectful of the opposition.

“Both sides were good at batting as they scored runs off weaker bowlers yet playing fantastic defensive shots with a straight bat to try to keep their wickets.

“That is so important at this level because you lose runs off your total for the wickets.”

Sleigh was delighted with the performance of his youngsters.

He said: “Last year, the u11s won the Lancashire Knockout, Bolton League and Bolton League Cup while this year we did the league and cup double.

“It was very good and I think that we have potential with some of the players coming through.

“There were eight players in the final and five of those will be returning next year which is a solid foundation for next year.

“Heaton have a large membership of u18s as I think that there are almost 100 signed up.

“They take part in two sessions on a Friday night.”

The age group wrapped up the league title on August 21 when they beat Egerton by 74 runs.

Earlier this year, Your Sport featured the success of one of the Heaton players when Lee Halliwell took five wickets in five overs, a feat Sleigh described as “outstanding”.