By Mikael McKenzie

QAISER Abbas and Rob Houghton both struck centuries for Westhoughton as they demolished Little Lever on home soil.

Professional Abbas took 123 balls to reach his 113 not out and skipper Houghton achieved his 100no in 131 balls.

The 204-run partnership set their visitors a target of 242-2.

Little Lever – who were unbeaten in their last three games following the return of their 2013 title-winning captain Jon Kerrigan – were led by Zain Abbas who top-scored with 56.

The skipper Kerrigan then knocked 29 but his teammates failed to deal with the brilliant bowling attack of Oliver Newby (4-30), Kieran Edwards (3-60) and Abbas (3-21) who dismissed the visitors for 114 – which included six ducks.

Walkden recorded a much-needed victory against second-bottom Horwich.

Sayed Shah (54), Adnan Malik (41), Johnathan Fowler (35) and Ryan Ayres (30) all scored high as Walkden posted 229-8. Professional Babar Naeem was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 5-81.

Tom Billington hit a half-century in reply but with little support his side struggled to get past 160-9 as the overs expired. Iqbal Patel did the most damage with the ball taking 3-39.

Elsewhere, Andy Griffiths hit 15 fours and four sixes as he racked up 129 not out for Kearsley at home to Tonge.

Grant Cordin (45), Saeed Anwar Jnr (64) and Chris Fenn (53no) also added high scores to post an impressive 332-3.

Chris McGuinness top-scored in reply with 30 but the basement side were bowled out for 135 with Connor Lord, Darren Whittle and Cordin taking two wickets apiece.

Astley Bridge extended their unbeaten run to four games with a routine victory against Heaton.

Skipper Imran Mirza top-scored for 36 as Heaton were bowled out for 115. David Cryer and Syd De Silva took four wickets each.

Amal Athulathmudali led the response with the bat scoring 71 as Astley Bridge cruised to victory with the loss of only four wickets – of which Joe Ducker and Haroon Farhat bowled two apiece.