Bradshaw are enjoying a new lease of life this season after enduring a couple of lean years.

Their latest success also gave them extra pleasure, coming as it did, against current champions Walkden.

Much of their improvement follows Dave Tattersall's appointment as team manager but on Saturday it was his bowling that helped things along. He took 4-65 as Walkden totalled 180-7, Matt Parkinson again among the runs with a well crafted innings of 85.

In reply Bradshaw lost three wickets in a sluggish start but Dave Morris shared half century partnerships with pro Amal Dallugoda then Neil Johnson to put them on the brink of victory. By the last ball, however, they still needed two to win but Andy Kilner made absolutely sure of success, hitting a towering six.

It was never going to be the weekend when Horwich lost their unbeaten record - or their place at the top of the table.

They faced bottom club Farnworth, still without a win but who came close to forcing the draw after winning the toss and putting the visitors in to bat.

Horwich's total of 231-4 was no surprise as their strong top order looked comfortable against Farnworth's attack. Pro David White top scored with 74, Steve Woods 50, Wayne Harper 37 not out and Grant Long 31.

Farnworth did their best to hold out when they replied but eventually succumbed on the last ball of the penultimate over with a total of 126. Main contributors were Martin Axford 29 and pro Shafique Ahmed 25, the bowling damage bring done by Andy Taylor 5-19 and Paul O'Sullivan 4-19.

Tonge kept pace with Horwich in second place following their eight wicket win at Greenmount. Pro Adil Nisar was the star of the show hitting 70 and taking 4-53 but much of the credit went to Ian Taylor, whose 6-32 led to Greenmount being dimissed for 131.

Nisar and Rick Northrop, 33 not out, then put on another century opening partnership, Tonge eventually finishing on 134-2.

There was a high scoring game at Farnworth Social Circle where Westhoughton totalled 208-9. Alan Gaskell 56, Steve Parker 42 and pro Abdur Khan 35.

Circle, however, looked on course to match that when they reached 100 with only one wicket down, but with a longish tail they had to keep their top order at the crease. Richard Hope 55 and pro Quasir Rashid 54 were their main hopes but once they had gone, Khan started to get among the wickets and Circle finished on 163-8 and a share of the draw.

Astley Bridge achieved a comfortable 84 run win at struggling Eagley after running up a total of 200-8. At one stage it looked likely to be much higher as they reached 157-2, Paul Stafford hitting 50 and Siddique 44, but to their credit the Eagley bowlers kept to their task and with Brent Richards taking 3-36 they managed to keep the target down to a reasonable rate.

Reasonable, that is, if you have a number of gifted batsmen but unfortunately that's not the case at Eagley, where a draw was looking to be their best option until Siddique 5-47 and Will Halton 2-33 finished them off for 114.

Kearsley picked up a four wicket win at Little Lever after pro Akber, 4-29 off 15 overs, and Mel Whittle 3-54 had restricted the home side to 118-9. That was never enough to test Kearsley and although Lever pro Desilva finished with 5-49, Steve Davis 34, Tom Whittle 32 and Simon Thomson 22 eased them to a winning 122-6.