FARNWORTH captain Simon Booth believes the better weather and drier wickets will continue to enhance his side's batting performances following a 10-wicket triumph over Eagley.

Saif Bhojani (37) and Mike Ward (27) gave the visitors a healthy start before Curtis Anderton (6-33) and Melbourne Austin (2-22) tore through the battling line up to leave Eagley all out on 131 – Chris Wilson also made three catches.

Adil Nisar stuck eight fours on his way to 71 and Kamran Sajid hit five fours as he scored 52, as both openers finished not out.

And skipper Booth was delighted with the performance of the batters and bowlers.

“It was a weird game really,” he said.

“They set off well and were 60-0 before we decided to change the bowling up a little bit.

"The introduction of Anderton and Austin later on really helped us.

“We tried to give everyone a bowl and used six bowlers so that we didn’t bowl anyone into the ground.

"I was really pleased with the opening batsmen too, as we have been really bad at batting in the last few weeks.

"They both come from oversees so they are used to the hotter, drier wickets.”

Bradshaw recorded a 31-run victory over Farnworth Social Circle.

Stuart Hornby scored 33 and Nick Lester hit 31 as Bradshaw were bowled out for 132 – Dave Mather (5-66) and Chris Barrow (4-41) doing the damage with the ball.

Barrow then turned his hand to the bat, hitting 37, with pro Rameez Alam adding 29.

But Kamran Younis bowled 4-17 with two maidens and Steve Foster took 3-55 with three maidens to wrap up the victory as Social Circle fell for 101.

Westhoughton closed the gap on league leaders Egerton to just one point with a 12-run victory in their top of the table clash.

Opener Danny Naylor hit six fours on his way to scoring 52 as the hosts set a good early pace posting 121-3.

But Amal Dalugoda’s six-wicket haul for 37 runs halted the progress and bowled the hosts out for 158.

In reply, Anthony Clegg (34) and Lancashire Under-19s star Haseeb Hameed (24) looked to set Egerton on their way to victory as they needed 34 runs with four wickets left.

But Qaisar Abbas destroyed the tail end of the batting line up, bowling 5-56 to clinch the vital win.

Oliver Newby and Kieran Edwards also took two wickets each.

Horwich secured victory against bottom side Tonge in a low-scoring affair.

Tonge, who only managed 39 runs against Heaton last weekend, were bowled out for 79 this time out with Zeeshan Mirza top scoring with 13.

Lewis Haydock led the bowling charge taking 3-27, before Horwich pro Babar Naeem was introduced and he took 4-27.

Naeem scored 24 when he turned his hand to the bat, and Phil Cavill chipped in with 13 as Horwich past their target with six wickets to spare – Mansoor Ahmed the most notable bowler for Tonge, taking 2-41.

Zain Abbas struck a century as Little Lever secured a 39-run victory over Kearsley.

Little Lever opener Abbas scored 110 – including 13 fours and two sixes – while number three Ayaz Hanif helped himself to a half-century, which contained five fours and one six.

Captain Josh Gent also chipped in with 20 as Little Lever finished on 219-9.

Saeed Anwar Jnr (4-103) and Mohammed Jameel (4-72) were the pick of the Kearsley bowlers taking four wickets each.

Charlie Dorsey led Kearsley’s reply with the bat scoring 61 (seven fours and three sixes) but it was Mohammed Adnan who stole the show as his seven-wicket haul for 65 runs bowled the hosts out for 180. Craig Mann took the remaining three wickets for 69.

Walkden defeated Heaton by six-wickets.

The Lower Pools side batted first and pro Haroon Farhat top-scored with 35. Imran Mirza chipped in with 26 as Walkden posted 122-9.

South African Johnathan Fowler bowled 3-50 and Sayed Shah took 3-1 for Heaton inside two overs.

It took Walkden only 17 overs to rattle off the required runs as Rafal Afridi led the charge with the bat scoring 48, and Shah added 30 to clinch victory with the loss of only four wickets – three of which were taken by Joe Ducker.

Greenmount recorded a comfortable 114-run victory at home to Astley Bridge.

Captain Andy Kerr scored 63 and Phil Ingram added 73 as Greenmount posted 217-9. Syd De Silva was the most notable bowler for Astley Bridge, taking 5-51.

Amal Athulathmudali scored most of Astley Bridge’s total of 103 reply, hitting 76, but the remaining Bridge batsmen had no answer to Mark Stewart, whose impressive figures of 7-33 included a hat-trick.

The latest meeting of the Bolton Cricket League Umpires and Scorers Association will be held tonight at Tonge Cricket Club at 7.45pm. All members should attend.

Results

Farnworth 133-0, Eagley 132. Farnworth won by 10 wkts.

Farnworth SC 101, Bradshaw 132. Bradshaw won by 31 runs.

Greenmount 217-9, Astley Bridge 103. Greenmount won by 114 runs.

Heaton 122-9, Walkden 125-4. Walkden won by 6 wkts.

Horwich 80-4, Tonge 79. Horwich won by 6 wkts.

Kearsley 180, Little Lever 219-9. Little Lever won by 29 runs.

Westhoughton 158, Egerton 146. Westhoughton won by 12 runs.