ATHERTON recorded their second victory of the season with a six-wicket win against Little Hulton.

Batting first, Little Hulton recovered from 107-7 to reach 208, thanks mainly to a half-century from Azan Baig.

Zain Abbas took 4-38 for Atherton, then followed it up with a half-century and an 81-run opening partnership with Robert Harper. Rhys Webb ended the match on 70 not out.

Westhoughton have also won two matches, and top the table courtesy of an extra bonus point.

Westhoughton made 260-4 with Kamran Younis striking 105 from 101 deliveries, and along with Rob Brown, who hit 67 from 45, putting on a century partnership.

Little Lever reached 155-4, Nipun Gaikwad (69), Adam Carter (45) and Senuran Muthusamy (35) top scoring, but ended 60 runs adrift and just unable to hang on for the bonus point. Brown took 3-60 and Agha Salman 3-48 for Westhoughton.

The only other team to win twice are Farnworth Social Circle who made the highest score of the day with 332.

Ryan Ayres shared in two century partnerships with his 95 runs, the first with Elliot Coleclough (65) and the second with Jameel Stuart (83). Lewis Haydock took 4-45 for Horwich and Jack Berry 3-107.

James Enslin (61) and Tom Billington (49) put on 106 for the first wicket, but then Horwich subsided to 145-9.

A half-century last-wicket stand between Lewis Haydock and Sam Bell saw the innings end on 199, with Chris Barrow taking 5-31 and Ayres picking up 3-70.

Farnworth were 87-6 against Blackrod, but 42 from Simon Booth and 25 from Dan Higham helped them more than double the score as they ended on 172, despite losing the last three wickets for three runs.

Blackrod’s deputy professional Sagar Trivedi smashed 71 from 47 balls, but they then slumped to 132-8 before Charlie Fletcher (23no), Jacob Ashworth (16) and Matthew Ready (10 off five balls) took them to a one-wicket victory with seven balls remaining. Ross Sutton was the pick of the Farnworth bowlers with 2-19.

Naseer Ahmed recorded 46 opening the batting for Tonge, but this could not prevent them falling to 118-8. Edward Lynch and Connor Lord steered them to 169-8 at the close of the innings.

Akber Ur Rehman had 3-21 for Lostock then guided them to a four-wicket win with 46. The main assistance was provided by Connor Hicklin with 36.

Walkden began with a 41-run opening partnership, and reached 80-3, but with Luke Booyson taking 4-17 and Harvey Signe 3-16 they lost their last seven wickets for 11 runs.

Martin Eccles and Asif Hussain both scored in the 30s as Eagley won by seven wickets.

Cameron Murray was top scorer in Kearsley’s 125 all out with a personal score of 41, Asher Zaidi taking 3-42 and Irfan Puda 3-7.

Astley Bridge then strolled to a 10-wicket victory with half their overs remaining, Jack Bentham scoring 68 and Millen Patel 49.

On Sunday, two Bolton League teams recorded fairly comfortable victories against teams from the Liverpool Competition in the National Knockout.

In their 40 overs, Westhoughton reached 294-7, thanks mainly to 74 from Kamran Younis and 128 in 64 balls from Agha Salman.

Highfield ended their innings 101 runs short.

Farnworth went two runs better, with Milinda Siriwardana (75), Joe Settle (72) and Nakash Qumar (72) the big scorers in their 296-7.

Southport and Birkdale began with an opening partnership of 131, but were unable to maintain the run rate ending 40 adrift with nine wickets down, Settle taking 3-28.

In the T20 there were back-to-back wins for Farnworth SC against Eagley and Kearsley.

Fixtures

Saturday: Atherton v Farnworth SC, Blackrod v Little Hulton, Eagley v Lostock, Farnworth v Tonge, Horwich v Walkden, Kearsley v Westhoughton, Little Lever v Astley Bridge.

Sunday: Hamer Cup - Astley Bridge v Tonge, Farnworth SC v Little Hulton, Horwich v Little Lever, Kearsley v Eagley, Walkden v Atherton, Westhoughton v Blackrod.