WESTHOUGHTON were dumped out of the regional Twenty20 semi-finals on the penultimate ball of the match against Norden on Sunday.

The Howfeners were representing the Bolton League for the first time following their triumph in the league's own T20 competition.

But they faced tough competition against the Central Lancashire T20 champions.

Westhoughton opened the batting well as Mark Atherton scored 40, Danny Naylor and Qaiser Abbas both scored 31 and Oliver Newby chipped in with 28.

However, wickets soon began to fall and the St George's Oval outfit were bowled out for 164.

Only three wickets were taken by Westhoughton when it was their turn with the ball, but tight bowling from Paul Hart took it to the last over.

Norden eventually won it with one delivery to spare.

Skipper Rob Houghton said: “We were missing a few lads today – lads from the second team who would usually get a game with the firsts were kept in the second team because of the Birtwistle Cup final.

“To come so close is gutting but I honestly believe we could have won it if we had a full strength squad.

“I feel we did the Bolton League proud and did ourselves proud. We have never got this far in the T20 competition and it was a great experience.

“It was a disappointing day for the club as the second team lost the Birtwistle Cup final too.”