FARNWORTH Social Circle maintained their unbeaten start to the season and sit seven points clear at the top of the table after a narrow home win against Little Lever.

Jake Scicluna starred with the bat, falling five runs short of his century for the Piggot Park side.

Dave Tonge (43) and Chris Barrow (33) also scored highly as the hosts ran up a tally of 261.

Zafir Gohar spearheaded the reply, hitting 97, but the impressive Dave Mather finished with bowling figures of 6-82 as Little Lever were dismissed for 224.

Despite being the early pacesetters, skipper Matt Parkinson is remaining grounded and claims there will still be upsets along the way: “It's early days yet and there is still a long way to go," he said. "We have still got some very good teams to play in Farnworth and Westhoughton.

“There will be some upsets along the way but we just have to make sure that we minimise those as best as we can.”

Parkinson also reserved praise for Scicluna's batting performance after his impressive knock.

“Jake is a nice lad,” he said. “He is different to most Australians that I have come across. He is a really quiet lad – most I meet are quite loud and boisterous.

“From where he's come from it will take some adjusting to get used to the Bolton League pitches but it seems to be going well for him so far."

Meanwhile, Farnworth are the only other side yet to suffer defeat as they saw off the challenge of Little Hulton.

Imran Butt (54) and Shaukat Patel (62) impressed with the bat for the Old Vicarage Ground outfit as they amassed a tally of 199.

Dinuka Hettiarachichi (5-101) and Imran Mirza (4-41) starred with the ball.

Ross Sutton (28), Ian McLellan (34), Mirza (75) and Jack Horrocks (30 not out) shone in the reply which sealed the win with six wickets intact.