BRADSHAW gave themselves a confidence boost ahead of the new Bolton League season by convincingly beating Littleborough away in the National Knockout on Saturday.

The Rigbys men made short work of their Pennine League opponents as they passed the target of 135-9 with eight wickets and 21 overs remaining.

Stuart Hornby and new signing Marwan Mohammed each took two wickets before Hornby and fellow opener Tom Liversedge went to work with the bat.

"We were quite happy with keeping them to 135 and then we went out with an attacking mindset when we batted," said captain Nick Lester.

"Stu got 62 and Tom 47 and they killed the game off.

"It was a good win and it was nice to get a victory at the start of the season because it took us five or six weeks to get a win under our belts last season."

Seven other Bolton League teams were in action in the same competition on Sunday – Horwich also having a resounding victory while Lostock, Westhoughton, Eagley, Farnworth, Tonge and Astley Bridge were all beaten.

Horwich's game was part of the club's 125th anniversary celebrations and they marked it with a crushing win against Greater Manchester League Division One side Denton.

Horwich posted 239-9 before getting the visitors all out for just 52.

Tom Billington top scored for Horwich with 66 and Liam Bones claimed three of the first four batsmen's wickets before Harry McManus took 4-9.

Lostock replied to Northern League Chorley's 138 with 89 all out, Palace Shield side Longridge posted 166-7 before Westhoughton replied with 154 all out, Eagley's 114 fell well short of Northern League side Netherfield's 355-6, Astley Bridge (131 all out) were knocked out by Greater Manchester League Premier Division side Roe Green (226-3), GMCL Premier Division team Prestwich (104-2) beat Tonge (103) and Farnworth's 227-9 was eclipsed by GMCL Division One side Heywood's 228-5.

Local GMCL Division One team Edgworth put in an excellent performance at Fleetwood.

Liam Watkinson took 4-13 off nine overs as the Northern League side were restricted to 121-9 in answer to the Bolton Road men's 212-7.

Earlier, opener Brett Ernst top scored with 72 and number three Watkinson began an outstanding all-round display with 62.

The win was in contrast to the previous day's first game in the Greater Manchester League which saw them lose by 67 runs at Woodhouses.

Watkinson again took four wickets, as did new captain Adam Syddall, but Edgworth could only manage 87 runs in their reply.

It was a similarly bad day for Astley and Tyldesley in Division Two as they replied to home side Brooksbottom's 141 all out with 88.

In the Premier Division, Egerton began the defence of their title with a disappointing defeat at home to Denton St Lawrence.

Deputy pro Sachithra Serasinghe scored just under half of Egerton's 162, which fell 73 runs short of the visitors' total.

The key man was Scott Kirwin who scored 97 not out and took five wickets.

Egerton captain Will Halton was unhappy with the performance but not unduly worried about his side's ability to challenge for a third league title in succession.

"We lost the first game last year so I don't see any problem in losing the first game this season," he said.

"We're still positive. We're still a good side on paper, we've just got to perform better than we did on Saturday."