BLACKROD provided the shock of the season so far on Saturday as they stormed to an eight-wicket victory at home to one of the early title favourites Westhoughton.

The Howfeners started dreadfully as the two opening batsmen fell for only two runs, but Ian Pilkington steadied the ship knocking 44 off 112 balls.

Professional Qaiser Abbas chipped in with 32 before Thushendra De Zoysa (3-22) and skipper Chris Sanderson (3-7) spearheaded the bowling attack to bowl the visitors out for 95.

De Zoysa turned his hand to the bat and struck 53 in reply, and fellow opener Sanderson scored 20 as the reply was seen off with eight wickets to spare.

Another former Bolton Association club impressing in the newly-merged league is Lostock who secured a comfortable victory against Astley Bridge.

Nick Jeffs once again starred with the bat and, two weeks after his first ever century for the club, knocked 97 – which included 12 boundaries – as Lostock set their hosts a target of 251-9.

Wicketkeeper Steven Hood scored 35 and Mark Cregan knocked 37, both equally impressive given the fine bowling of Yasir Rashid (7-63).

Tasheen Kazim top scored with 31 in reply but David Flanagan and Tom Sheen both bowled five-wicket hauls as Astley Bridge were dismissed for 79.

Meanwhile, the league's top two sides, Farnworth and Farnworth Social Circle, both remain unbeaten as they recorded comfortable victories.

Dave Mather starred with the ball for Farnworth Social Circle to keep them at the summit of the league table as they cruised past Atherton.

David Tonge knocked 52 and Jake Scicluna 85 as the Piggott Park side posted 239-8.

Amar Ullah scored 37 not out in reply but Atherton, who are without a win in the league this season, were bowled out for 101.

Mather took his seasonal wicket tally up to 42 and produced his best figures so far of 7-37.

Closely behind are Farnworth who brushed aside Adlington.

Scott Mather scored 60 and Neil Hyde also knocked 30, which, along with 41 extras, gave Lavender Road side a score of 190 before being bowled out.

Adlington's ever-reliable Majid Majeed spearheaded the bowling attack taking 3-33, and Ben King provided brilliant support with 3-40.

When Majeed turned his hand to the bat he struck a half-century from 47 balls.

But the positive start soon faded as Dinuka Hettiarachchi began to turn the screw with the ball and he took five wickets for only 14 runs to secure an 85-run victory.

Faisal Hussain bowled a seven-wicket haul as Kearsley easily dismantled mid-table Darcy Lever.

Darcy were bowled out for only 79 runs as Hussain (7-37) ran riot with the ball. Sam Crook top scored with the bat hitting 20.

Chris Baxendale knocked 25 not out in reply as the Springfield Road side wrapped up the win with seven wickets remaining.

Shaukat Patel's eight-wicket haul for Little Hulton condemned struggling Standish to their sixth defeat of the season.

Patel's stunning display saw him take eight wickets for 33 runs as Standish were bowled out for 100 – Usman Khushnood top scoring with 25.

Imran Butt (36) and stand-in captain Adam Newton (24) led the way with the bat in reply as the target was seen off with the loss of only five wickets.

And Standish captain Pankaj Tripathi explained after the game that his side need to improve on their fielding if they are to turn their form around.

He said: “Any team which is a good team is good at fielding – that is the foundation of being a good cricketer.

“The good teams are those who enjoy fielding as that is the biggest part of cricket, you spend more time fielding than you do batting or bowling.

“We as a team need to practise that more. I feel our team find it a bit laborious to be on the field and they don't have the same enthusiasm as they do for batting and bowling.

“Also, we are not batting well enough as a unit. There are not enough partnerships developing and I think we have only scored about three 50s amongst us this season.

“Not enough players go to training which is a problem we face and we don't practise enough fielding in training.”

Elsewhere, Golborne picked up their second win of the season at home to Daisy Hill.

Professional Adnan Raees scored 32 and Sam Pendlebury hit 25, but four wickets apiece from Jake Waterworth and Muzammil Nizam had the visitors bowled out for 134.

A consistent batting attack saw wicketkeeper Ciaran Vesey top score with 29 as Golborne achieved their target with the loss of six wickets – half of which fell to the bowling of Amjid Khan who posted figures of 3-38.

Horwich skipper David Morris says losing professional Brett Pelser to injury will be a huge loss after the Recreation Ground outfit narrowly lost to Heaton on Saturday.

Pelser broke his thumb during a match on Friday and is expected to be out for six weeks.

Phil Ingram (44), Tom Billington (34) and Phil Cavill (56 not out) all scored high as Horwich posted a total of 215-8.

The wickets were shared around the bowling attack but wicketkeeper Josh McGreavy impressed with four catches.

Professional Haroon Farhat top scored with 77 in reply, but Ingram's five-wicket haul for 62 runs took the game right to the wire.

Sam Hardman made a crucial knock of 28 before skipper Gary Garner scored 29 not out to wrap up the victory in the final over with two wickets to spare.

Horwich captain Morris explained that despite defeat, he was happy with the way his young side were playing at the moment.

“It was a close game but I am happy with our performance, it was just that Heaton were better on the day,” he said.

“I am pleased with what has gone on and how the season has started. We are disappointed to have gone out of the cup but we planned for a top-six finish and we are well on track for that.

“Our pro has been a major part in the successful start we have had so far this season, more off the field than on it.

“He has been a massive help to the younger players. We had six under-17 players on Saturday and his presence around them is great for them.

“It will be a huge loss and we have to replace him but he will still be around the place to help out the younger lads.”

Meanwhile, Stuart Hornby got Bradshaw back to winning ways with a routine victory against Tonge.

Following five straight defeats, the Rigby's outfit made easy work of the league's basement side as Hornby starred with the bat scoring 108.

Atiq Uz-Zaman added 47 as Bradshaw ran up a tally of 241-8. Ather Abid was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4-51.

Tonge again struggled with the bat and were bowled out for 65 – Phil Dickinson (3-42) did the most damage with the ball.

Agar Salman starred for Eagley as they continue to climb the table with a third victory in as many games.

Little Lever were the Dunscar outfit's visitors but they struggled with the bat as they were bowled out for 107 – Adam Carter top scored with 24.

Professional Salman was the key bowler for the hosts taking 6-51 – but father and son duo David and Will Shuttleworth showed that safe hands run in the family as they made six catches between them.

Salman turned his hand to the bat and struck 30 in reply and the target was achieved with four wickets to spare.

Results

Astley Bridge 79, Lostock 251-9. Lostock won by 172 runs.

Blackrod 99-2, Westhoughton 95. Blackrod won by eight wickets.

Darcy Lever 79, Kearsley 82-3. Kearsley won by seven wickets.

Eagley 110-6, Little Lever 107. Eagley won by four wickets.

Farnworth 192, Adlington 107. Farnworth won by 85 runs.

Farnworth Social Circle 239-8, Atherton 101. Farnworth Social Circle won by 138 runs.

Golborne 136-6, Daisy Hill 134. Golborne won by four wickets.

Heaton 218-8, Horwich 215-8. Heaton won by two wickets.

Little Hulton 104-5, Standish 100. Little Hulton won by five wickets.

Tonge 65, Bradshaw 241-8. Bradshaw won by 176 runs.