WESTHOUGHTON and Farnworth Social Circle both won last weekend to open up a gap at the top of the Second XI Premiership.

A fourth-wicket partnership of 114 between Kai Hodgkiss (74) and Ben Harrison helped Westhoughton recover from 35-3 to post an impressive 257-7, with Arun Pindoria adding 25 and Jamie Ramwell 36 as Mehr Patel claimed 3-46 for Astley Bridge.

Bridge struggled to reach just 109 in reply, with only Robert Hitchen and Jimmy Dakri managing to reach double figures in a vain chase as Malcolm Strong collected 4-54.

Social Circle were made to work hard for a three-wicket win against Bradshaw, chasing a target of 146.

Bradshaw went in first and thanks to the efforts of Nick Palmer (41) and Matthew Gregory (36) clawed their way to 145-9 despite Jamie Robinson taking 3-20.

Ian Ross and Thomas de Gelder, with 3-17 and 3-26 respectively, helped reduce Social to 65-7 before an unbroken partnership of 81 between Simon Harrison (46 not out) and Connor Thomson (37no) turned the game on its head.

Blackrod, meanwhile, are still looking for their first points of the season after suffering a four-wicket loss at the hands of Kearsley.

Defending 143 they managed to reduce Kearsley to 44-5 before they fought back through Daniel Robinson (42no), Raj Pushparajah and Jack Scott to secure an unlikely win.

Blackrod's innings had followed a similar pattern earlier as they slipped to 77-8 before a late assault from Nathan Mayor brought him 54 invaluable runs and took the total up to 143, with Robinson 4-25 and Puhparajah 3-18 completing good all-round performances.

Peter Eccles was the star of the show for Farnworth as he helped himself to a superb 160 as they set an imposing total of 358-7 against Daisy Hill.

Eccles had excellent support from Shujat Ali (56), Tom Speak (49) and Sam Bradley (33no) as all the batsmen took toll of the Daisy Hill bowling.

Having earlier taken 3-64, Mike Leeming then hit a fine 66 but only Kishor Pindoria provided much support as Daisy struggled to 120 in reply.

Ali completed a fine personal day by taking 5-7 to rip the heart out of the batting.

The final game in the top section saw Heaton edge past Horwich RMI by four wickets with four overs to spare at the Recreation Ground.

The home side batted first and lost wickets regularly but Adam Knowles (34) and Daniel Hornby (29) helped them reach 130 all out as Jack Whitehead took 4-25.

Despite 23 from Matthew Ball, Heaton found themselves struggling at 54-5 before a stand of 74 between Mark Greenhalgh (34) and James Latham (35no) took them to the brink of victory.

In the Association Section, there was a cracking match at Walkden where the home side squeezed home by just seven runs, despite making 214-8.

Tallis Keeler (53) and Jack Wilson (75) got them off to a great start, adding 123, before Thomas Gaskell added 34 to keep up the momentum despite George Lee taking 3-57.

Adlington’s reply followed a similar pattern as Liam Kane (33) and Andrew Chamberlain, who went on to make 64, opened with 69. Then, Stephen Plowes (40) set them up at 172-3 only for them to lose their last seven wickets for 23 runs, with Mohammed Razzaq taking 3-53.

Eagley picked up their fourth win of the season with a comfortable seven-wicket home victory over Atherton.

The visitors batted first and, despite 23 from Sam Roberts, found themselves struggling at 52-6, but Paul Brown kept going and his battling 37 helped them reach 98 all out as James Fallows and Daniel Burke each grabbed three cheap wickets.

Sean Marsh gave his side a glimmer of hope with three quick wickets before George Burke and Tom Mitchell added an unbroken 61 to seal the win.

Darcy Lever kept up their good form as they won the local derby against Little Lever by 103 runs.

Toseef Hanif (60), Gareth Hopkinson (63) and Sajid Mahmood (47no) led the way as Darcy built up an impressive 233-6, despite Harry Williamson chipping away to take 3-32.

Bob Weller led the response with a spirited 46, but despite four other double-figure scores Little Lever slid to a disappointing 130 all out. Mahmood finished off a good afternoon by taking 3-51 and Adeel Hanif backed him up well with 3-26.

There was another thriller at Castle Hill where the home side managed to hold their nerve and edge out Lostock by just a single run.

Having been restricted to 143-6 in their innings, they managed to keep the run chase in check by taking wickets at regular intervals.

Will Berry (26), Asghar Ali (23) and Tom Senior all made useful scores as they found themselves six runs short with three wickets and nearly 20 overs to spare, only to lose all three in quick fashion.

Stephen Partridge (4-46) and Danny Holt (3-35) were the bowling stars for Tonge.

Their innings had been in some disarray at 81-6, despite 32 from Holt and 24 from Mohsin Patel, before an unbroken stand of 62 between Joe Schofield 44no and Ken Snowden set up what proved to be a winning score.

The Stafford Trophy play-off at Huyton Road saw Farnworth Social Circle progress by a margin of 43 runs.

Danny Wilde led the way for Social Circle with a fine 73, helped by 33 from Stephen French as they managed 175 all out. Zach Green (5-63) and Ruth Leece (3-27) starred with the ball for Adlington.

Despite an opening stand of 50, Adlington never really threatened the target with Eddie Haddon’s 26 the only real score of note.

Joshua Roscoe (3-27) and Jess Bradley (3-12) did most damage as Social Circle sealed a last-eight spot.