BOLTON may have avoided the rain on Saturday but there were ducks aplenty as Eagley hosted Bradshaw.

The in-form Steve Foster – who surpassed 1,000 career wickets last weekend – was the key for the visitors as he produced brilliant bowling figures of 6-16. And coupled with five batsmen all being dismissed for zero, Eagley were woefully bowled out for 45.

This calamity was made worse when the bowling attack failed to remove either Bradshaw opener from the crease and Stuart Hornby (26no) and Tom Liversedge (20no) batted their way to a 10-wicket victory.

And following Bradshaw's second 10-wicket victory of the season, captain Nick Lester told The Bolton News that he believes they could be challenging at the top of the table come the end of the season: “It has obviously sent a message out there and told people that were are not giving up on the title,” he said.

“We came extremely close last year and we believe we can be up there again. I stressed to the team before the game the importance of every game for the remainder of the season.

“We are not in any cup competitions anymore so we are treating every league game like a cup final.

“It is always nice to get the bonus point but to get it in that manner is always brilliant.

Elsewhere, Qaiser Abbas fell nine runs short of his century as Westhoughton defeated second-bottom Horwich,

Skipper Rob Houghton added 27 to Abbas' 91 to set their visitors a target of 196-8. Babar Naeem was the only bowler of note with figures of 4-71.

Matthew Morris top-scored with 39 in reply, but an impressive bowling attack led by Oliver Newby (6-26) had them dismissed for 135.

Results

Eagley 45, Bradshaw 46-0. Bradshaw won by 10 wkts.

Egerton 232-4, Astley Bridge 167. Egerton won by 65 runs.

Greenmount 241-1, Little Lever 238-7. Greenmount won by nine wkts.

Farnworth 270, Walkden 120. Farnworth won by 150 runs.

Farnworth Social Circle 225-9, Tonge 97. Farnworth Social Circle won by 128 runs.

Heaton 190-9, Kearsley 133. Heaton won by 57 runs.

Westhoughton 196-8, Horwich 135. Westhoughton won by 61 runs.