THE Bolton League was tickled pink as Greenmount hosted Farnworth in a top-of-the-table clash that went right to the wire.

In what was a first for the league, both clubs donned pink shirts to raise money for hospices in Bolton and Bury.

The clubs’ second teams, who were playing at Farnworth, did the same with the combined effort helping to raise £2,038 and sell more than 50 replica shirts.

Former Greenmount cricketer and ex-England international footballer Phil Neville was also in attendance at the club’s Brandlesholme Road ground to open a new scoreboard.

But once the pre-match festivities were completed the two sides quickly got down to business – and with the winner guaranteed top spot Greenmount captain Andy Kerr led by example, opening with 60 runs.

Phil Heaton added to their tally with 40 not out and was joined by under-15s player and son Tom, who scored 35.

Professional Travis Townsend also added 35 as the hosts posted 250-6.

Adil Nisar (53) and Melbourne Austin (45) launched the Farnworth response, but the superb bowling attack of Australian Josh Macey (5-71) and Mark Stewart (3-85) kept victory just out of reach. The visitors needed 18 runs to win from the final over, but fell 12 short.

Third-placed Westhoughton kept the pressure on the top two with a six-wicket victory over Farnworth Social Circle.

Rameez Alam top-scored with 88 and David Tonge added 32 as Social Circle posted 169-8.

They may have added more but for a fine spell of bowling from Oliver Newby, who claimed a hat-trick in his five-wicket haul.

Westhoughton professional Qaisar Abbas (75no) and Rob Brown (51) ensured the result was never in doubt after they put on 92 runs for the third wicket.

Egerton pro Mahela Udawatte (106) hit his first century of the season as his side cruised past Heaton.

Marcus Pratt (45no) and captain Will Halton (55) also weighed in with some heavy scoring as the Blackburn Road outfit posted 263-3.

Oliver Sutcliffe (70) and Rob Isted (51no) helped Heaton to a competitive response but superb bowling from Amal Dalugoda (5-61) kept them at arms’ length as they finished on 220-9.

Astley Bridge are fourth in the table after returning to winning ways with a three-wicket victory against Little Lever.

Amal Athulathmudali (4-68) and Yasir Rashid (4-66) did the damage for Astley Bridge as Little Lever were bowled out for 142. Little Lever pro Zain Abbas went for 28, while Simon Anderton hit 30.

Syd De Silva scored 65 off 60 balls in the Astley Bridge reply as Sajid Mahmood took 3-42.

Kearsley cruised to a 70-run victory over Bradshaw after setting a total of 206-9.

Charlie Dorsey hit 43 for the Springfield Road side while Kamran Younis took 3-40.

Bradshaw captain Nick Lester scored 32, but impressive bowling from Saeed Anwar Jnr (5-69) and Grant Cordin (4-48) dismissed them for 136.

Trailblazer Nalisha Patel became the first female to play for the Horwich first team, but the 17-year-old's best efforts could not stop Eagley from condemning her side to a three-wicket defeat.

Horwich were let down by a poor batting display. Skipper David Morris hit 34 to put down a decent but after little help from lower down the order and a fine spell of bowling from Adil Valli (4-38) they were all out for 169.

Professional Awais Zia ushered Eagley past their target with an unbeaten 93, but the result could have been a lot different had he not been dropped off Patel's bowling when only on seven.

That moment proved a game-changer and even Lewis Haydock’s 3-35 was unable to knock Eagley off their stride as they finished on 172-7.

Patel joins a handful of women to have played in the Bolton League, which includes the likes of Shachi Pai at Astley Bridge and Meg Fairclough with Egerton.

The Lancashire Under-19s star finished with figures of 0-38 from nine overs – but her bowling still drew praise from captain Morris, who told The Bolton News: “Nalisha bowled well and she played a pivotal part when the pro was dropped.

“She will 100 per-cent be back in the first team. She bowled really well at an international professional batsman.

“It was a good game. We set a score that was about par but we had to get their pro out and we failed to do so. He won them the game.

“Our season is going exactly as we thought it would. We have a very young side and we had five u18s players in our side to give them some experience.”

Elsewhere, bowling took centre-stage as Tonge suffered a narrow defeat to Walkden.

Johnathan Fowler (5-29) and Adnan Malik (3-12) tore through Tonge’s batting line up to bowl them out for 102 – Mohammed Zaheer top-scored with 25.

Walkden struggled to chase down their total against the bowling of Mansoor Ahmed (4-62) and Dave Bath (5-60) but scraped over the line thanks to number 11 batsman Callum Worrall (11no), who smashed a six to help save the day.

Results

Greenmount 250-6, Farnworth 239. Greenmount won by 11 runs.

Heaton 220-9, Egerton 263-3. Egerton won by 43 runs.

Horwich 169, Eagley 172-7. Eagley won by 3 wkts.

Kearsley 206-9, Bradshaw 136. Kearsley won by 70 runs.

Little Lever 142, Astley Bridge 143-7. Astley Bridge won by 3 wkts.

Tonge 102, Walkden 104-9. Walkden won by 1 wkt.

Westhoughton 173-4, Farnworth SC 169-8. Westhoughton won by 6 wkts.