FARNWORTH Social Circle skipper Tim Barrow is hoping his side can now put a run together after they inflicted Bradshaw’s first defeat of the season.

The Piggott Park outfit suffered back-to-back defeats the previous weekend but responded in the best way possible with victory against the Premiership Division leaders.

Jake O’Byrne opened with 38 and Ryan Ayres added 28 as Social Circle started the game well, scoring 115-5.

But when Marwan Mohammad (4-39) and Jordan Mason (5-16) began to turn the screw with the ball the hosts collapsed on 121.

Phil Dickinson then opened the reply with a knock of 44 but he was the only Bradshaw man to hit double figures as they crumbled to 82-9.

Ayres (3-41) and Josh Roscoe (4-40) impressed with the ball, and it was the latter’s step up to plug absences in the first team which impressed captain Barrow.

“It was definitely good to bounce back from last weekend,” Barrow said.

“We need to start putting a bit of a run together now and we have the Hamer Cup semi-final coming up in a couple of weeks.

“Both teams had frontline players missing so we probably balanced each other out to be fair.

“We knew when we went out in the second innings we had to get early wickets and fortunately we did.

“Josh Roscoe, who is the opening bowler for the second team, stepped up and did very well.

“He has definitely given us a difficult decision on Tuesday when selection comes around.”

However, Barrow has outlined the need for his batsman to turn the current form around.

He added: “There are about eight batsmen that are out of form. It’s rare you get so many out of form at one time.

“At the beginning of the season I said that our strength was probably the depth of our batting, we can bat all the way to number nine or 10 with the squad we have got."

Bradshaw’s loss allowed Farnworth to close the gap on top spot to three points with a comfortable win at Eagley.

Imran Mirza (72), Iain McLellan (35) and Simon Booth (35) all scored high as the Lavender Road outfit posted 236-8.

Eagley professional Agha Salman claimed five victims before knocking 45 not out with the bat.

However, rain halted proceedings and Farnworth won on the Duckworth-Lewis method.

Kearsley rose to third with a narrow win at home to Westhoughton.

Cameron Murray scored 30 as the hosts were bowled out for 122 – Oliver Newby (4-45) and Kieran Edwards (3-46) impressed with the ball.

Westhoughton came so close in reply, falling four wickets shy of the target as Dave Mather (3-36) led a bowling attack which had the Howfeners dismissed for 118.

Sayed Shah and Ben Smith both took four victims each as Walkden bowled Lostock out for 91.

Tayler Heyes then knocked 55no in reply as the hosts completed the chase with five wickets to spare.

Tom Billington scored his maiden century for Horwich’s first XI as they set Heaton a target of 230-8.

Brett Pelser also scored 68, but the game was abandoned due to rain in the second innings with Heaton scoring 79-1 – Matt Fray (45no) the standout batsman.

Results

Eagley 115-3, Farnworth 236-8. Farnworth won on D/L method.

Farnworth Social Circle 121, Bradshaw 82-9. Farnworth Social Circle won by 39 runs.

Horwich 230-8, Heaton 79-1. Match abandoned.

Kearsley 122, Westhoughton 118. Kearsley won by 4 runs.

Walkden 92-5, Lostock 91. Walkden won by 5 wkts.