SALMAN Saeed was the star as Little Lever kept up their 100 per cent start to the new Bolton Cricket League season against Blackrod.

Ayaz Hanif (27) and Curtis Anderton (26) led the way for Little Lever, but 5-33 from Akash Senarathna pinned them back to 122 all out.

This was still far too many for Blackrod who were dismissed for just 36, deputy professional Saeed the main tormentor with 7-15.

Anderton completed a good day with 3-16 to help his side to an 86-run victory that made it three wins out of three.

Blackrod are winless along with 2019 champions Walkden who posted 129 against Farnworth.

Akbar Ur Rehman made 33 and Mustafa Bashir 29 with Walkden’s cause helped by a last-wicket partnership of 29 between Stephen Morgan and Tahir Maqsood.

Dan Higham took 4-23 for Farnworth and Ross Sutton 4-34.

Professional Tevyn Walcott (51) and captain Simon Booth steered Farnworth to a six-wicket victory from 76-4. Bashir completed a good all-round performance with 3-39.

The sides would meet again on Sunday in the Lancashire Knockout with Farnworth again coming out on top in a rain-affected game.

Ur Rehman led the way with the bat, making 90 in Walkden’s total of 236-9 batting first.

The rain then resulted in Farnworth’s chase being affected by DLS, Booth’s men sealing a seven-wicket victory after finishing on 112-3 off 18 overs, Walcott unbeaten on 45 at the close.

Elsewhere, in Saturday’s BCL action, Eagley recovered from 35-4 at Astley Bridge thanks to a 72-run partnership between Adeel Baig (43) and Martin Eccles (31), eventually finishing on 131-8. Harsha Rajapaksha took 3-53.

Bridge overtook this score with the loss of six wickets, thanks to 32 from opening batsman Millan Patel, and 39 from Rick Northrop in the middle order.

Darcy Lever reached 166-7 against Tonge with significant contributions from Hafeel Mohammad (42), Imran Sadiq (37) and Ian Jones (28).

Alex Rodzoch took 4-19 and Dave Bath 3-39 for Tonge.

Freddie Oliver (29) and Craig Naylor rescued Tonge from 24-5, but the team still fell two runs short of three figures, with Sadiq adding to his 37 runs with 3-44 and Andrew Patel taking 3-22 as Darcy prevailed by 68 runs.

James Tierney was top scorer with 60 for Farnworth Social Circle in their win against Little Hulton.

Professional Ryan Ayres posted two runs fewer as Circle ended on 203-9 despite Adil Jamal taking 4-61 and Sanchit Goel 3-59.

Little Hulton responded with 110, Saj Patel the leading scorer with 21. Richard Dempster with 4-14 and Andrew Brooks 3-22 did most of the damage.

Horwich’s 122 in their 85-run win at Kearsley was mainly based around 45 from Dean Bell and 25 later in the innings from Jordan Higham. Sisiraj Pushparajah took 3-32 and Mo Jamel 4-30 for Kearsley, but their efforts were overshadowed by Jack Berry’s match winning 6-14 as Kearsley were dismissed for 37.

Of the Lostock batsmen only Connor Hicklin made much impression with his 20 in a total of 108, Rob Brown taking 5-25 for victors Westhoughton.

Matthew Morris set Westhoughton on their way with 44, but four wickets then fell for 18 runs. However Mike King lead them to a four-wicket victory with an unbeaten 21. Rob Holgate took 3-40 for Lostock.

Other Lancashire Knockout action on Sunday saw Horwich go through thanks to a 3-1 bowl-out win at Northern League Leyland.

Kearsley are out however after a seven-wicket defeat against Lancashire League side Darwen.

The hosts were all out for 97, Dave Mather top scoring for Kearsley with 26 as Andrew Cook claimed 3-27.

In reply, Darwen reached their target for the loss of three wickets thanks to a top score of 36 from Mark Friend.