HEATON moved clear in third place in the Bolton League Second XI Premiership last weekend as both Farnworth Social Circle and Westhoughton suffered their first defeats of the season.

Heaton inflicted Social Circle’s loss as they edged home by two wickets in an exciting game at Lower Pools.

Chasing a target of 183, Heaton found themselves struggling at 50-5, but Ryan Tierney stood firm to make a vital 65 and, with the help of Kishan Patel, Jacob Whittaker and Robin Isted, the home side managed to get across the line despite Christian Walsh taking 5-46

Zac Wilson, with 64, had helped set Social Circle on the way to a total of 182-6, with Jamie Bohannon adding a further 47 lower in the order. Patel completed a good all-round match with 3-41.

Westhoughton must have been confident of continuing their good form after they restricted Horwich RMI to 112-9, only to be bowled out for just 67 in reply.

Sean Dunning, with 37, played pretty much a lone hand for Westhoughton as Ramakrishnan Mangineni ripped through the order with 6-26.

Youngster Josh Little had earlier top-scored for RMI with a battling 34 as Simon Ashcroft grabbed 3-21 and Malcolm Strong 3-31.

Astley Bridge ensured Blackrod remain pointless with a seven-wicket win at Vicarage Road.

Put into bat, Blackrod lost wickets at regular intervals with Paris Patel the pick of the bowlers with 3-25 as only Chris Readey, with 20, made much impact with the bat.

Bridge then made short work of the target as Ady Cooper (46) and James Cooper (45) added 102 for the first wicket.

Having rattled up 260-8, Bradshaw enjoyed a comprehensive win against Daisy Hill by a margin of 172 runs.

Mike Leeming (32) provided the only real resistance in Daisy’s reply of just 88 all out as Aaron Barton-Wells collected 4-20.

In Bradshaw’s innings, Ian Ross and Elliott Dargan, who went on to make 87, had them off to a great start, adding 105, and then Nick Palmer (77) and Matt Gregory (23) helped push the score up to 260 despite both Joe Leeming and Kieran Farrell taking three wickets.

Rain interfered in the game at Farnworth where visitors Kearsley were sat on 141-5 after 32 overs chasing 263, which left the hosts winners on run rate.

Farnworth’s innings of 262-6 was built around fine knocks from Tom Speak (66 not out), Arron Rushton (43), Michael Daley (40) and Peter Eccles (36).

In reply, Jack Scott was unbeaten on 34 when the rain arrived, as he attempted to build on the earlier efforts of Joe Capstick (25) and Daniel Robinson (24).

Darcy Lever took advantage of Eagley’s first defeat of the season to move to the top of a competitive Association Division with a 75-run win against Walkden.

Despite Mohammed Razzaq taking 4-59, good contributions from Bilal Khan (50), Sajid Mahmood (36), Wayne Hopkinson (28) and Harry Smethurst (25) helped them reach 200-7.

Mahmood then turned his hand to the ball, taking 4-15 to help dismiss Walkden for 125, with Razzaq making 36 and Tallis Keeler 34.

Lostock brought Eagley’s unbeaten run to an end at Chew Moor with the visitors well behind the rate when rain brought proceedings to an end with them sat on 72-5 after 25 overs, chasing a target of 202.

Earlier, Mark Cregan, with 36, Lucky Issa (34no) and Alex Senior (24) were the main contributors as Lostock made 201-8 from their 45 overs to set up an awkward chase for Eagley.

Little Lever came away from Simpsons Fields with a win by 46 runs against Golborne.

Batting first, they built up a score of 176-9 thanks in the main to Bob Waller and Rory Holmes who both made 30 despite Brett Houghton taking 3-29 and Tom Kelly 3-39.

Kelly and Houghton were then prominent with the bat, too, making 29 and 22 respectively, but did not get much support from the rest of the order as Tamoor Jehangir took 3-52 and Harry Williamson 3-15 in a total of 130.

Both of the other games were victims of the weather as they were abandoned before a finish could be declared.

Little Hulton had got Atherton in deep trouble at Higham Park on 71-6 after 22 overs when the rain interfered as they chased a target of 256.

Neil Jarvis, with 3-29, and Ian Lee (3-40) had proved too much for most of the batsmen, with only Robert Harper providing resistance with 33.

Harper had earlier also taken 3-53 as Little Hulton made 255, with the main contributions coming from Brian Kelly (50), Stephen Thomasson (28), Jarvis (28) and Rory McIntyre (25).

Adlington were also frustrated by the weather with Tonge 103-4 in 23 overs chasing an imposing 311.

Liam Kane (37) and Mark Halliwell, who went on to make 77, had opened with a 102-run stand, and then Stephen Rawlinson made a superb 100no, adding 122 for the third wicket with Andrew Chamberlain (49) as they rattled up 310-4.

Jamie Worrall, with an unbeaten 59, was leading the chase for Tonge when the rain called a halt to proceedings.