THE Lancashire Knockout reaches the 'round of 16' this weekend (how did we manage before that phrase was invented?) and the most important match locally is Farnworth v Westhoughton.

The two clubs clash on Sunday at 1pm, guaranteeing at least one Bolton League club will feature in the quarter-finals.

Darwen entertain Ormskirk tonight to kick off the round, with the remainder of the matches on Sunday.

There is a good spread of teams between the leagues, with three each from the Lancashire League, Ribblesdale League and Greater Manchester League – who did have more clubs entering the competition than any other league.

The Bolton League provide the aforementioned two clubs and the Liverpool Competition and Pennine League also providing two, with Darwen – who have been accepted by the Lancashire League for 2017 – the sole Northern League team.

The top game to the outsider must be Burnley v Bootle.

It is only in the past two years that the Lancashire League have taken the competition seriously enough to leave sufficient Sundays free for their teams to compete all the way to the final.

But now their champions Burnley face last season's LKO winners Bootle who just got through against Bradshaw in the last round.

Along with the Bolton League, the Lancashire League and Pennine League are guaranteed at least one quarter-finalist as their clubs play each other.

Darwen are not the only team to have been accepted by the Lancashire League in the past week.

After months of uncertainty Clitheroe and Great Harwood from the Ribblesdale League have followed.

Assuming the Lancashire Cricket Board do not impose any of their threatened sanctions and Ramsbottom have voted to remain, this will give the Lancashire League 17 clubs for 2017.

While their aim is to have 20 clubs for the 2018 season, with promotion and relegation, 17 clubs could provide a headache for the fixtures secretary. The Ribblesdale League, meanwhile, will presumably revert to one league of 14 teams. This will be a great disappointment to their clubs as the present structure of the top eight teams playing each other twice and the bottom eight teams once, and vice versa, with internal promotion and relegation, had appeared to be very popular with players and spectators.

Disputes within the South Section of the Bolton League Twenty20 now appear to have been resolved with Kearsley at home to Farnworth this evening in the quarter-final and Farnworth Social Circle at home to Walkden to determine who tops the group. Some of the later matches in the knockout stage will have to be rearranged to accommodate these arrangements and clubs will be informed of the changes which will also appear in The Bolton News.

In recent years the England Cricket Board have run surveys for players, and the input from Bolton League players has generally been above average but unexceptional.

This year leagues have been permitted to add a few of their own questions, and the Bolton League will ask for players' opinions on T20 cricket, the quantity of matches played in general and restrictions on bowlers. It is hoped as many players as possible, senior and junior will participate.