IT was good to finally get out and watch a full weekend of cricket action after the washouts which have afflicted us of late.

As I alluded to in a previous column, it has been noticeable that the ex-Bolton League teams seem to take the attack to the bowlers far earlier than the Bolton Association sides did.

Nowhere was this more in evidence than on Saturday in a reduced 35-over game at Little Lever where the home side's Jon Kerrigan blasted 70 off 36 balls to set up a comfortable win.

This included four sixes in one over and eight in total.

On Sunday I was sub scoring for Lostock in their Hamer Cup semi-final at Walkden – a ground I have not visited since a pre-season friendly many years ago.

It was good to hear that it seems there is a lot of work due to take place on the ground over the forthcoming months.

I was also collared by two people at the bar asking if it was me who wrote this column – and were quite complimentary.

How much they'd had to drink, however, was uncertain!

Lostock were blown away by one of the best spells of bowling I've seen for a long time.

Tahir Maqsood, who I'm sure used to be professional at Edgworth, took 6-25 and the captain 6-6-1-0 to see the game to an early finish.

As a spectacle I'm sure everyone was disappointed, none more so than Lostock. It just wasn't their weekend with two semi-final defeats and another in the league.

Finally, I've seen footage of Bamford Fieldhouse using a helicopter in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to get the game on.

Before anyone suggests otherwise this isn't a dig at the Greater Manchester League! You use whatever you have at your disposal, so top marks for effort and ingenuity.