WESTHOUGHTON aim to provide a stage worthy of a big cup final on Sunday.

Farnworth and Kearsley can expect impressive surroundings when they go head-to-head for the Hamer Cup, which starts at 1pm.

Westhoughton won the right to host the game when their bid was accepted by Bolton League officials.

And the St George's Oval club's chairman Gary Dixon says they intend to put on a good show for the league's showpiece occasion.

"Atherton did a fantastic job hosting the final last year and we are trying to raise the bar further," he said.

"It's a cup final and something special should be done for it.

"When the league asked for bids there were five clubs who expressed an interest which went down to three – us, Eagley and Horwich.

"Eagley dropped out and it was down to us and Horwich who put in bids.

"We were chosen but, to be fair, Horwich put in an impressive bid and would have put on a good final.

"They've been fantastic staging games in recent times – especially T20 games.

"We promised the best Hamer Cup final the league has had for a while and we've been working hard to do it.

"It will be on track number nine which is one of the middle wickets which is normally reserved for Lancashire second-team games.

"We started preparing it a little later than we normally do because of the bidding.

"We always prepare pitches three weeks in advance of games, this was two weeks before but it won't make any difference because of the weather we've had.

"It's looking a nice, hard deck which is good because we want a good interesting final with plenty of runs.

"A 500-plus final is what we want to achieve.

"We want it to be a good exhibition for the league going forward.

"The Hamer Cup final is a big event for the BCL. It's our showpiece occasion, our cup final, and it should be treated as such.

"We're not saying we should stage it every year – we wouldn't want to. Other clubs should get the chance and they should raise the bar to make it the occasion it deserves to be."

Kearsley are taking supporters on a 51-seater coach for the game which starts at 1pm and there will be an outside bar, PA system and a winners' banner for the presentation of the trophy.