DARCY Lever moved five points clear at the top of the Bolton League Second XI Premiership following a crushing 221-runs victory over Westhoughton at The Levers last weekend.

Batting first, they amassed a formidable total of 277-8 from their 45 overs.

Bilal Khan led the way with a fine 94, with good support coming from Mujtaba Khan, who made 38, and Ifkar Ali, with 31, as most of the batsmen chipped in.

Sam Connor, with 4-31, and Chris Leyland (3-99) were the leading bowlers for the visitors.

The Westhoughton reply was simply blown away as Mujtaba then added 3-3 to his earlier runs and, aided by Adil Sajjad (3-5) and Toseef Hanif (3-28), bowled them out for just 56 with only TJ Pindoria making double figures.

Heaton took advantage of Westhoughton's defeat to jump over them into second place as they stormed to a nine-wicket win at Adlington.

The home side went in first and only James Walton managed double figures as they were shot out for just 51, with the bulk of the damage done by Tom Whylie, who took 4-19, and James Larkin (3-16).

Heaton had little trouble knocking off the runs as Robin Isted hit a rapid unbeaten 37 to see them home to an early finish.

Bradshaw and Astley Bridge enjoyed a tight tussle at The Rigbys before Bridge narrowly emerged on top by a margin of just two wickets.

Chasing 117 to win, a good spell of 3-7 from Luke Davenport put them on the back foot, but in the end, 25 from Bilal Patel proved decisive in getting his side home.

Bradshaw had batted first and were indebted to 32 from Luke Needham and Matt Hilton (20) for helping them to a total of 116 as Nick Ford claimed 4-24 for the visitors.

Farnworth Social Circle staged a remarkable recovery from 78-8 to eventually post a more challenging total of 166 in the end against Lostock.

Aryan Soma, with 76, and Luke Wilson (44) were the main players in the recovery after Tom Mills had taken 6-50 to have the innings in trouble.

Despite 30 from Will Berry and 25 from Ste Kaye, Lostock never really threatened to reach their target and were eventually all out for 116 in reply as Andy Brookes took 3-24 and Azan Riaz 3-26 for Social.

The Horwich RMI v Kearsley game fell foul of the weather, so with three games to go it looks like the title will realistically probably go to Darcy Lever, Heaton or Westhoughton, while at the bottom it looks like another three-way fight to avoid relegation between Adlington, Bradshaw and Kearsley.

The Association Division was badly affected by the weather with the games at Blackrod, Daisy Hill and Little Lever all called, so just two matches managed to get completed.

Golborne made the most of their game at Eagley, getting on to consolidate their second position in the table after an 18-run win in a low-scoring affair.

The home side must have been confident of success after bowling Golborne out for just 86, but Jamie Foster (3-13) and Tom Peacock (3-16) had other ideas and shot Eagley out for 68 in reply with only two batsmen in double figures.

Ben Lyon had earlier top scored for the visitors, making 24 as Mick Craig took 4-32 and George Jackson 3-14.

Walkden travelled to Higham Park and came away with a good win by a 43-run margin in another relatively low-scoring game.

Batting first, they eventually totalled 143, thanks in the main to 48 from Harry Morgan and 44 from Josh Wilson as Dan Ashton took 5-14 in a great spell for the home team.

Morgan then took centre stage with the ball as he took 4-15 and, with Mo Razzaq backing him up well with 3-29, Atherton could only make 100 in reply with the top score being just 18.

Farnworth and Golborne look to be in pole position for the promotion places with a nine-point gap now to third-placed Little Lever, while at the other end of the table it looks like a two-way scrap between neighbours Atherton and Daisy Hill to avoid the wooden spoon.