FARNWORTH Social Circle and Westhoughton are the early pacesetters in the Bolton League 2nd XI Premiership.

Social hosted Kearsley at Piggott Street and had a 53-run win after batting first and posting a total of 213 all out.

Liam Ashworth got them off to a good start with 27, and then Zac Wilson 58 and Andrew Wareing 73 joined forces to add 114 for the second wicket.

Jack Scott helped pegged them back with 4-46 with Joe Capstick and Riaz Khan each taking three wickets.

Scott continued to contribute as he then top scored with 38 in the Kearsley reply.

George Banks added 37 but James Bohannon’s fine spell of 5-37 proved crucial.

Westhoughton made the short trip to Daisy Hill and came away with a six-wicket success in a game reduced to 30 overs.

Daisy Hill batted first but despite Anish Rabadia making 44 and Mayank Patel 31 were restricted to 124-9 as Ben Harrison and Malcolm Strong each took three wickets.

Ian Pilkington then led the Westhoughton chase with 46, and with Kai Hodgkiss making 21 and Simon Ashcroft 21 not out they got home with some comfort.

Heaton made the top score of the day racking up 269-6 on the way to a 156-run victory over Blackrod.

Ryan Tierney topscored with a fine 68 with good support coming from Tom McGivern 43no, Jake Corrigan 36 and Nigel Duxbury 31 as Stephen Glover took 3-86.

Matthew Baty’s 41 provided the only real resistance when Blackrod replied as Robin Isted 5-30 and Kishan Patel 3-42 helped bowl them out for just 113.

Farnworth travelled to Bradshaw and inflicted a 44 run defeat on the home side who were chasing a rain-revised target of 190.

Rob Counsell with 34 and Chris McGuiness' 22 provided the main resistance to the bowling of Shujat Ali (4-14) and Stephen Bradley (3-51) as they reached 146-9.

Farnworth had earlier reached 247 all out thanks mainly to a late order blitz from Victor Walcott who hit a rapid 68 to add to Tom Speak’s earlier 26 as Ian Ross bowled well to collect 5-70.

The other game in the division was abandoned after Horwich RMI had posted a total of 216-7 against Astley Bridge.

Jack Berry led the way with 87 with good support coming from Adam Knowles who hit 52 and Andy Hancock 26 as Ady Cooper bowled well to take 5-57.

Rain however prevented any further play.

Darcy Lever lead the way in the Association division with Eagley and Lostock close behind after a crushing victory over Adlington.

Freddie Oliver led the way with a splendid 96 with Bilal Khan supporting well on 56 as Darcy Lever raced to 284-9, despite George Lee taking 5-73.

Khan was also prominent with the ball taking three wickets as Andrew Chamberlain 38 and Stewart Plowes 32 provided some resistance as Adlington managed just 116 in reply.

Lostock’s win at Golborne was marred by a serious injury to Tom Gregory incurred when he was dismissed for 32.

Play was held up for an hour while they waited for an ambulance, and when it resumed Lostock finally totalled 205-9 with Andy Johnson hitting 43, Harry Stockton 32 and Will Berry 33 as Jordan Close claimed 3-17.

Connor Naughton led the chase with 49 well supported by Ben Lyon 34 but Neil Flanagan took 5-39 to help his side home.

Little Lever won an exciting game against Tonge reaching a revised target of 120 for the loss of eight wickets.

Bob Waller and Paul Scott each made 22 in the run chase despite the best efforts of Danny Holt who took 5-42.

Holt had earlier top scored with 32 to complete a fine personal effort with useful support coming from Lloyd Sayers 25 and Masum Patel 21. Jon Pendlebury led the bowlers with 5-54 as he and Don Heyes with 4-41 helped dismiss Tonge for 129.

Sunday saw the second round of the Birtwistle Cup with all games producing a result on the day, with Bradshaw, Farnworth, Little Hulton, Farnworth Social Circle, Westhoughton, Horwich RMI, Darcy Lever and Heaton all winning.

Bradshaw bounced back from the previous day’s defeat by beating Daisy Hill by a margin of 171 runs. Batting first they built up a total of 242-7 mainly thanks to Jamie Legg 49, Rob Counsell 46 and Elliot Dargan 44 as all the top seven reached double figures.

Fourteen-year-old Lancashire women starlet Daisy Mullan then proceeded to rip through the Daisy Hill batting with figures of 5-27 with only Chris Charters (26) providing resistance in a total of just 71 all out.

Walkden and Farnworth fought out a tight game at The Oval before the visitors emerged on top by five wickets.

Chasing a target of 176 they were led home by fine efforts from Michael Daley 47, Lee Bridge 45 and Daniel Joynson 25no.

Bridge had also been to the fore with the ball earlier as he took 4-23 in a Walkden total of 175-9 with Sam Bradley supporting him well with 3-43.

The Walkden innings was built around an excellent 92 from Mohammed Razzaq, but sadly only Kashiup Laiji of the other batsmen could reach double figures.

Farnworth Social Circle enjoyed a comfortable victory over Adlington by an impressive margin of 227 runs.

Batting first they rattled up 278-5. Zac Wilson 34 and Liam Ashworth 28 got them off to a good start which was then capitalised on in a stand of 126 between Andrew Wareing who went on to make a superb 138 off 101 balls and Christian Walsh who added 53.

Adlington then had simply no answer to the bowling of Carl Glover 6-10 and Jess Bradley 3-12 as they crashed to just 51 all out with no one making more than seven.

Charlie Honour was another century maker as his splendid 103no helped lead Westhoughton to a strong position on 243-4 with Sean Dunning adding 47 in a stand of 147.

Jack Southworth then launched an onslaught of his own in reply for Blackrod, but his belligerent 87 was very much a lone hand in the end as James Burrow took 5-34 and Simon Ashcroft 3-32 to help dismiss them for 125 in reply.

Horwich RMI coasted to a six-wicket win at Golborne after dismissing their hosts for just 102 with youngster Sam Little leading the chase with 38 supported by Andy Hancock who made 20.

Earlier Andy Taylor had once again rolled back the years to take 6-16 as Golborne collapsed after a promising opening partnership of 51 between Jamie Peacock 24 and Roger Gwinnett 22.

Darcy Lever continued their good form as they defeated Astley Bridge by a margin of 85 runs at The Levers. Wayne Hopkinson with 73 led the charge with the main support coming from Nab Khan 64 and Wasim Ali 31 as they built up a total of 252-7 despite Ramesh Patel taking 3-33.

The Bridge reply was built around a fine 56 from James Cooper but despite three other double-figure scores they were eventually dismissed for 167 with Andrew Trengrove taking 3-18.

In a low-scoring game Little Hulton beat Kearsley by 85 runs despite themselves having been dismissed for just 110.

The final game saw Heaton beat Atherton.