The bowling brilliance of Farnworth Social Circle duo Steve Mather and Liam Bones and Horwich RMI's Babar Naeem and Adam Street was thrown into the spotlight on Saturday as the quartet helped their sides claim victories against Farnworth and Bradshaw respectively.

Mather and Bones disposed of seven of their local rivals' batsmen to extend their run at the top of the league, while Naeem and Street took five wickets apiece against the title-chasing Rigbys.

A delayed start at Bridgeman Park due to a wet pitch saw the game reduced to 44 overs as leaders Social Circle inflicted a three-wicket defeat on their fourth-placed neighbours.

Mather claimed a six maiden haul as he took 4-41 off 22 overs, while Bones rattled off 3-27 from his 13 overs, including four maidens.

Chris Baxendale top-scored for Farnworth with 52 but his team-mates could only manage a further 56 runs between them as the hosts were all out for 108.

Despite the bowling efforts of Curtis Anderton (4-40) and Chris Wilson (3-31), the opening partnership of David Tonge (29) and Tim Rees (24) led the leaders' reply, but after a mid-order collapse, it was Chris Barrow's 26 who helped the leaders total 112-7 and extend their lead at the top of the league table.

Another bowling double act from professional Naeem and Street helped Horwich RMI to victory at title-chasing Bradshaw.

The duo took five wickets apiece as The Rigbys only managed to post 134 from their 48.1 overs.

Gary Garner notched up eight fours on his way to a top-score of 39 as the hosts crashed to a four-wicket defeat.

Naeem took 5-29 off 17 overs, which included an impressive eight maiden haul, while Street took 5-78 as the hosts were taught a bowling lesson.

Phil Cavill led the reply notching up a top score of 42, which included five fours before being run out, and despite a batting collapse with both Joe Settle and Chris Brownlow going for ducks, Naeem settled the innings and the game hitting 40 as the visitors notched up 136-6 with overs to spare.

Steve Foster's 2-36 and Saeed Anwar Jnr's 2-31 were the best bowling figures for the hosts.

Second-from-bottom Tonge were comprehensively beaten by nine wickets at home to title-chasing Westhoughton.

The visitors took advantage of Bradshaw's defeat, needing just 17.1 overs to knock off the runs they required for victory after the hosts collapsed to 104 all out.

Qaiser Abbas was Westhoughton's star man with the ball taking 4-36 off 17 overs including five maidens, while Dan Higham also took 3-24 from his six overs.

Chanaka Ruwansiri (36) and Gulam Abbas (25) were the only scorers of note for the Castle Hill men.

The opening partnership of Atiq Uz-Zaman (49 not out) and D Naylor (46) easily notched up 106 as Westhoughton claimed the win to move into second place.

Paul Rayment was in top form for Eagley as he notched up 37 against Heaton, but the bottom side were left mesmerised by the bowling of the visitors' spin bowler Anwar Ul-haq who took 6-23.

In a feeble batting performance, the hosts were skittled for just 101 with Heaton easily knocking off the required runs.

Ul-haq top-scored with 30 and Adam Halton also hit 21 not out as the visitors scored 105-4 to win by five wickets.

Elsewhere, Walkden cruised to a seven-wicket home victory against Little Lever thanks mainly to excellent bowling figures of 5-25 from Corey Collymore and Iqbal Patel's 3-26.

Andrew Worden top-scored with 30 and Simon Anderton also hit 25 as the visitors were skittled for just 123.

Unbeaten Rafal Afridi narrowly missed out on a half-century for Walkden as he top-scored with 49, while professional Travis Townsend also added 31.

Rakeb Mahmood was the pick of the Lever bowlers taking 2-52 as the visitors notched up 124-3 in reply.

Paul Stafford and Will Halton led Egerton to victory against Greenmount.

Sixth-order batsman Stafford batted well on a poor wicket to top-score with 38 while opener Halton hit 37 as the hosts recovered from 93-6 to total 174-9.

Phil Heaton top-scored with an unbeaten 23 for the visitors, and was also their best bowler, taking 4-36 from his 24 overs.

Amal Dalugoda (3-26) and Halton (3-24) made light work of Greenmount's reply as the visitors were skittled for just 87.

Richard Northrop hit a century for Astley Bridge but it was not enough as half centuries from Siraj Ghaus and professional Chesney Hughes helped Kearsley record a 55-run victory.

Ghaus starred with both bat and ball notching up 51no and taking 5-81, while Hughes also added an impressive 59 as the Kearsley scored 236.

David Cryer's 3-73 and Syd De Silva's 3-91 were the best bowling figures for the Bridge.

Northrop's hit an unbeaten 109 but Astley Bridge were skittled for 181.

 

RESULTS:

Tonge 104 Westhoughton 106-1. Westhoughton won by 9 wkts.

Bradshaw 134 Horwich RMI 135-6. Horwich RMI won by 4 wkts.

Little Lever 123 Walkden 124-3. Walkden won by 7 wkts.

Egerton 174-9 Greenmount 87. Egerton won by 87 runs.

Farnworth 108 Farnworth SC 112-7. Farnworth SC won by 3 wkts.

Eagley 101 Heaton 105-4. Heaton won by 5 wkts.

Kearsley 236 Astley Bridge 181. Kearsley won by 55 runs.