ANDY Taylor bowled Horwich back to the top after another amazing wicket haul.

The left arm spinner, who has done much to revitalise the side this season, bowled only eight overs but finished with the staggering figures of 6-19.

That was the major contributory factor as Little Lever were bundled out for only 94 leaving the home side six wicket winners after Wayne Harper 34 and Jon Partington 27 had steered them to 98-4.

While Horwich were celebrating that success, Tonge, who had replaced them at the top last week, were slipping to third after they lost at Astley Bridge with Walkden moving into second after beating Westhoughton.

Tonge's demise was caused by the failure of their batting line-up. Chasing Bridge's 168-9 they were bowled out for 131 and only 47 from pro Adil Nisar and 26 from Nigel Hallows plus a last wicket partnership of 20 between Ian Taylor and Ian Eccleshare hauled the total into respectability.

Mohammed Saddique was the main Bridge wicket-taker with 5-32 with Will Halton picking up 3-20.

Earlier things had looked good for Tonge as Taylor had kept the Bridge score down to reasonable proportions with 6-38, only pro Jadhav 75 and Anthony Clegg 30 getting on top of the bowling.

At Walkden, the home side completed a comfortable nine wicket win with an impressive all round show. First their bowlers kept the visitors in check restricting them to 152-8 as Matthew Parkinson claimed 4-37 while John Smith tied the batsmen down conceding only 21 runs off his 18 overs.

After that, pro Douglas Watson eased Walkden home with an unbeaten 80 while David Smith contributed 24 and Mike Bennison 19.

Bradshaw needed 10 runs off the last to ball to overhaul Farnworth Social Circle's total of 162-9. Andy Hart managed to get the penultimate ball away for four but could not manage the winning six hit, the game ending in a draw. Dean Eckersley top scored for Circle with 40 while Neil Johnson 46 and pro Amal Dalugoda 25 put on a 60 run partnership for Bradshaw.