BOLTON Cricket League leaders Farnworth Social Circle recovered from a bad start to their innings to beat Blackrod by 62 runs.

FSC slumped to 31-4 before Dave Tonge (54) and Richard Dempster (30 not out) battled to help their side reach 155-8 off their 45 overs.

The pick of the Blackrod bowlers was professional Akash Senarathna with 4-47.

Despite being 50-2 in reply, Blackrod soon collapsed to 93 all out with Chris Barrow taking 3-27 and Dempster rounding off a fine all-round performance with 5-18.

Little Lever sit in second place after beating Westhoughton by three wickets in a nail-biting game at Victory Road.

Batting first Westhoughton made 208 thanks to a superb 121 from Marlon Welcome-Goodman. Naeem Patel took 4-29 and Curtis Anderton 3-34.

Lever’s response was dominated by a century partnership between sub-professional Ashar Zaidi (116 not out) and Naeem Patel (52), with Zaidi seeing his side over the line with one ball to spare.

Previously unbeaten Horwich succumbed to a Tonge side inspired by their professional, Hashan Dumindu.

Batting first Tonge made a respectable 180-9 with Dumindu unbeaten on 100. Jack Berry was the pick of the Horwich bowlers with 5-50.

Horwich seemed to be cruising to their target with Dean Bell (53) and Berry (37) well set before Dumindu struck, the innings collapsing to 160 all out as Dumindu took 6-25 off his 15 overs to complete a match-winning display.

Walkden continued their recent good run of form with a convincing win over Atherton.

Walkden posted 191-9 with captain Nathan Rushton (34) and professional Akbar Ur Rehman (74) the main contributors. Zain Abass was the pick of the Atherton bowlers with 4-74.

An opening partnership of 42 was not enough for Atherton as they slumped to 115 all out with Mustafa Bashir (4-21) and Tahir Maqsood (3-46) doing the damage.

Bottom of the table Kearsley continued their poor form with the bat, only managing to post 68 against fellow strugglers Eagley.

Professional Adeel Baig was the pick of the bowlers with 4-24, well supported by Harvey Seigne with 3-16.

Despite losing an early wicket Eagley never looked in trouble and reached their target with the loss of only three wickets, all taken by Dave Mather (3-34).

Darcy Lever have Hafeeez Mohammad and Andy Patel to thank for a 58-run win against Astley Bridge.

Mohammad came to the crease with his side struggling at 66-5 but then proceeded to hit a 35-ball 50 as Darcy posted 176.

Astley Bridge quickly collapsed to 55-8 and despite a late flourish from Irfan Puda (46 from 29 balls), they fell well short of their target, Patel taking 5-49 for the visitors.

In the day’s other game, Lostock beat Little Hulton by five wickets.

Mian Ullah fell just short of this half-century (48) as Little Hulton ended their innings on 207-9.

A solid batting performance saw Lostock overhaul the hosts’ target with 13 overs to spare. Connor Hicklin (49), Simon Hanson (35) and Daniel Vincent (47) all made useful contributions.