UNDERDOGS Little Lever produced the shock of the weekend with a surprising 27-run victory at home to Farnworth.

The Association Division outfit were missing a number of key men as they hosted last year’s Lancashire Knockout finalists.

But the missing men gave others a chance to impress – and that they did.

Professional Adil Nisar was the star of the show against the club he served for the last few years, opening with a knock of 45 then taking six wickets.

Dane Hargreaves, who has returned to the side after two years out with a knee injury, and Simon Anderton each added 19.

Farnworth’s powerful bowling unit dismissed their hosts for 140 – Kamran Younas (5-51) and Imran Mirza (3-39) doing the damage with the ball.

Curtis Anderton took both openers for just fours runs inside three overs, an incredible start.

Nisar then mopped up the remaining wickets with figures of 6-33, despite an excellent late spell at the crease by Simon Booth who stuck around a long time for his 27.

The victory over a top division side will send shockwaves around the Bolton League, much to the delight of Little Lever skipper Josh Gent.

“I’m buzzing” Gent said. “We basically had half a side out. I was banned and we had four players who were playing in the final game of the amateur football season too.

“We planned to use the game as practice for the Hamer Cup game the next day and never expected to win.

“Adil Nisar, our professional who is ex-Farnworth, was class with both the bat and ball.

“If you would have offered us 140 off the first innings before the game I would have bit your hand off.

“It was good to get our ex-captain Jon Kerrigan out in the second over too. He’s a good player and it was good to get rid of him early.

“We had them at around 27-7 and it was a bit of a hammering really. We took our foot off the gas a bit late on when their skipper Simon Booth came in, he did well and made it respectable for them.”

Gent has been reinstalled as Little Lever captain this season and he plans to take the club in a new, exciting direction.

“We are going to do things my way now,” Gent added. “If I get it wrong I’ll take it on the chin but I’m confident we can have more of the same as Saturday.

“It’s nothing new for me. I’ve done it before. The lads came in on Saturday will keep their place in the team after a performance like that. The competition’s great and the lads who were missing will struggle to get back in.

“Just call us the giant killers. No one likes coming to Little Lever, not on a sunny day.”

Elsewhere in Group E Kearsley eased past Little Hulton to cement their place in the quarter-finals.

A strong batting display from Chris Baxendale, sub professional Naveed Malik and Cameron Murray scoring 84, 92 and 50, respectively, ran up a total of 259-4.

Sajawal Khan (34) and Burhan Shah (36) led the reply with the bat but Dave Mather’s five-wicket haul for 32 and Mohammad Jameel’s figures of 3-50 dismissed Little Hulton for 170.

BRADSHAW rose to the top of Group B with a comfortable seven-wicket win against Atherton.

Jordan Mason bowled four wickets for 32 runs as the Eckersley Fold Lane side were dismissed for 160. Opener Calum Barlow top scored with 30.

In reply, professional Sachithra Serasinghe hit 73 not out and Tom Liversedge knocked 48 as Bradshaw stormed to victory which leaves them seven points clear of Atherton and Farnworth Social Circle.

Bradshaw have lost only seven wickets in the season’s opening two games – a record matched only by Kearsley – but skipper Nick Lester says the time will come when his middle-order will be called into action too.

“They got off to a decent start and were going fairly well at around 110-5,” Lester said. “I decided to put Jordy Mason in and he took four wickets which is the majority of the lower order.

“Our outfield was blinding. Our pro did really well hitting 73 not out in reply too.

“I had a fairly easy afternoon watching with my feet up. I think I’ve only faced 10 balls this season but I’ve said to the other middle-order guys our time will come when the top order guys don’t score this many runs. There are plenty of games to come.

“We are hoping to do better than last year. We started really poorly with quite a lot of losses last year so it is good to get off to a winning start this year.”

Social Circle picked up their first win of the season against Astley Bridge.

The Sharples Park side exited the competition with a game to spare as they were bowled out for 126 – Ryan Ayres, Andrew Brooks and Chris Barrow taking three wickets each.

Jake Scicluna (35) and Ayres (38) led the reply with the loss of only four wickets.

HORWICH secured their place in the quarter-finals of the Peter Stafford Trophy after taking maximum points for the second week running with a nine-wicket victory over Darcy Lever.

The Hacken Lane side gradually built their tally up to 128-9 with patient batting from captain James Walsh-Hill, who hit 33 in the middle order, and Chris Fenn, who opened with 23.

Brett Pelser and Jack Berry took three wickets apiece.

But Horwich made short work of reaching the target as skipper Phil Ingram hit 45 off 40 balls, and opening partner Tom Billington scored 42 not out.

Dean Morris, batting at number three, helped see the hosts to victory scoring 39 not out from 29 balls, spending just 26 minutes at the crease.

Raheel Majeed starred with both the bat and ball to keep Heaton’s hopes of progression alive with victory over second-placed Blackrod in Group A.

Majeed scored 76 with the bat, which along with skipper Gary Garner’s 42 not out racked up a total of 205-9.

Thushendra De Zoysa was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3-56.

When Majeed turned his hand to the ball he bowled 6-86. But it was Muhammad Irfan (3-29) who took the most crucial wicket of all, dismissing De Zoysa for 62 as Blackrod fell 21 runs short of the target.

Daniel Naylor knocked a century as Westhoughton comfortably defeated Golborne in Group C.

Opening pair Rob Houghton and Naylor set the pace with scores of 22 and 125 as the Howfeners opened the batting.

Rob Brown (30), Jordan Higham (28) and Charlie Honour (30 not out) also scored high as Westhoughton were bowled out for 293 in the final over.

Golborne’s reply never got going as Qaiser Abbas (5-26) and Kieran Edwards (3-29) tore through their battling line-up for just 67 runs.

The 226-run victory sets up a tense final group game clash with Daisy Hill next weekend, who sit one point behind Westhoughton after beating Premier Division side Lostock.

Adnan Raees knocked 66 for the Bolton Association outfit, who were struggling with the bowling of David Flanagan (3-69) and Tom Sheen (3-56).

But a late flurry from seventh, eighth and ninth batsmen Darshan Varsani, Steve Chilton and Stephen Hodgkinson, who struck 20, 35 not out and 30, respectively, boosted the score to 217-8.

Hodgkinson, Raees and Sam Pendlebury all shared the honours with the ball, taking three wickets each as Lostock fell for 188. Nick Jeffs top scored with 63.

Walkden wrapped up their place in the last eight with victory at home to Tonge.

Sub professional Akbar Urgent Rehman knocked 104 and Sayed Shah added 33 as the Oval outfit ran up a total of 262-9.

Alex Rodzoch and Cory Schofield took three wickets apiece, before the former hit 42 when he turned his hand to the bat.

Cameron Lucas added 31 in the middle order but impressive bowling from Tahir Maqsood (5-60) had Tonge all out for 178.

Eagley went level on points with opponents Adlington following a six-wicket victory in group D.

Agha Salman (7-63) and Zaid Patel (3-34) dismissed Adlington for 140 – Ben King top scored with 51.

Michael Ward (33) and Salman (42) led the reply which achieved victory within 33 overs.

Saturday’s results

Blackrod 184, Heaton 205-9. Heaton won by 21 runs.

Horwich 129-1, Darcy Lever 128-9. Horwich won by 9 wkts.

Bradshaw 162-3, Atherton 160. Bradshaw won by 7 wkts.

Farnworth Social Circle 127-4, Astley Bridge 126. Farnworth Social Circle won by 6 wkts.

Daisy Hill 217-8, Lostock 188. Daisy Hill won by 29 runs.

Westhoughton 293, Golborne 67. Westhoughton won by 226 runs.

Eagley 145-4, Adlington 140. Eagley won by 6 wkts.

Walkden 262-9, Tonge 178. Walkden won by 84 runs.

Kearsley 259-4, Little Hulton 170. Kearsley won by 89 runs.

Little Lever 140, Farnworth 113. Little Lever won by 27 runs.