WESTHOUGHTON seconds continued their good start to the season as they finally overcame a spirited Little Lever by 58 runs at Victory Road.

Batting first they built up an imposing 303-5 after Connor Kirkham (88) and Ryan Chaisty (69) had added 113 for the first wicket.

Jamie McAndrew added 49 but it was a very generous 47 extras that probably proved too costly in the end.

Lever had a real go at it with good contributions from Pat Hayhurst (31), Tim Taylor (30), Jack Barlow (41), Ryan Worden (47) and Andrew Clark (35 not out) but ended their reply on 248-9.

At the other end of the run-scoring scale, Tonge had a facile win against Lostock by 10 wickets after bowling their visitors out for just 63.

Lostock had reached 52-2 with Amit Dashore making 22 but then collapsed as Cliff Collings took four wickets in four balls on his way to 6-38. They then raced to their win in just 8.3 overs through George Leather and Abdul Bhajat (41no).

Astley Bridge rattled up 264-4 at Kearsley where they secured a 63-run win in the end.

Shehzad Patel (90), Kai Hodgkiss (82no) and Ishaq Patel (37) set up their score.

Kearsley made a spirited response, reaching 201-7 in their allotted overs with Neil Thompson making 43, James Green 40no, Jack Scott 26 and Andy Gregory 29 being the main contributions.

There was an exciting game at the Recreation Ground where Farnworth Social Circle squeezed past Horwich RMI with just one ball to spare.

RMI batted first and made a more-than-useful 244-5 with Jake Swindells making a superb unbeaten 128, Sam Little hitting 39 and Tom Swindells scoring 25 as Matt Knight picked up 2-51.

Circle’s run chase was built around 95 from Chris Lane, an undefeated 77 from Knight and 28 from Tim Burrow - Knight and Gibson managing to score 11 off the last over to secure the win.

Another low-scoring game saw Farnworth thrash Blackrod by 10 wickets at Vicarage Road.

The home side batted first and were skittled out for just 55 with just two players managing to reach double figures. Three wickets each for Victor Walcott and Zahid Butt and two for Jamie Bohannon did the damage for Farnworth.

Bohannon (29no) and Simon Harrison (26no) then knocked off the required runs in just eight overs.

The biggest win of the day came at Atherton where Little Hulton came out on top by 144 runs.

Chasing a target of 244, the home side were blown away by the bowling of Ashley Perry (4-21), Dylan Wylie (3-24) and Nasim Patel (3-33), with only Matt Nolan (27) and Otis Ryan (19) in a total of 99.

Little Hulton had earlier rattled up 243-4, thanks in the main to Harrison Calvert (73), Simon Hetherington (50no), Nasim Patel (42), Perry (31) and Roger Kumah (27).

For the second week running, Walkden were unable to raise a team and conceded their game.

On Bank Holiday Monday, the Bolton League staged one of the first 100 competitions in the North West as four teams of under-15s competed in a festival of cricket at Westhoughton.

The two semi-finals were closely contested with the first game actually decided on the basis of least wickets lost.

The Falcons batted first and made 115-8 with both Oliver Gredecki and Leon Tennant retiring on 25 as Sebastian Wilcox took 3-10.

The Sharks replied with 115-5 and went through by losing fewer wickets. Ben Maher retired on 30 and Harry Cross hit 17 as Luke Cowburn and Ben Oxborough each took two wickets.

The second semi-final saw the Rhinos edge through by five runs against the Bears after being bowled out for 117.

Nikhil Patel retired on 30 and Luca Doyle hit 18no, with two wickets each for Lucas Charlson and Jack Murray.

The Bears replied with 111-7 , Charlson retiring on 31 and Edward Lynch scoring 21 as Doyle added two wickets to his earlier runs.

The Sharks won the final when, having posted 115-6, they then bowled out the Sharks for 79.

Kishan Hira (31no), Nikhil Patel (23) and Luca Doyle (24) made the bulk of their runs with Seb Wilcox taking two wickets.

Sharks’ reply saw two wickets each for Hira, Jack Hamlett and Rory Brierley as the main resistance came from Will Ashworth.