WESTHOUGHTON moved to the top of the Bolton Cricket League after victory over Little Hulton saw them become the only side to win five matches out of five.

It was not an easy victory, though, as Shan Ali, with 79, helped Little Hulton recover from 10-3 to post 200. Rob Brown took 3-44 and Usman Tariq weighed in with 3-41.

Westhoughton reached 95 before the first wicket fell, with Kamran Younas being responsible for 74 of these runs.

However, with Tajamul Khan taking 3-56, Westhoughton slipped to 171-6 before Matty Morris saw them to victory having batted throughout for his 67 not out.

Top scorer in Farnworth’s 220-7 was Nakash Qamar with 64, Curtis Anderton taking 3-45 for Little Lever.

Travis Townsend made 46 out of Little Lever’s 116 all out. Dan Higham finished with 5-43 and Milinda Siriwardana 3-23 as Farnworth won by 104 runs.

League leaders Farnworth Social Circle could only muster 114 against Astley Bridge, with the last four wickets falling without a run being added.

Earlier in the innings, Ryan Ayres hit 46, but Lesiba Ngoepe took 5-13. Bridge then overtook this score for the loss of two wickets.

Akbar ur Rehman was 103no in Lostock’s 221-6, and this included a century partnership with Robbie Holgate (36).

Kearsley reached 38 without loss but were destroyed by Adam Syddall’s 8-35, ending 87 all out.

The biggest victory of the day belonged to Horwich who amassed 302-6, Joe Baldwin (78) and Jack Berry (50) top scoring.

Tonge were then dispatched for 69 with Sam Bell taking 4-23.

Asif Hussain was top scorer with 46 in Eagley’s 198-6, Zain Abbas taking 3-59 for Atherton.

James Richards’s took 5-23 for Eagley and James Fallows 3-30 to dismiss Atherton for 72.

Matthew Ready had 5-26 and Thikshila De Silva 3-33 as Walkden totalled 79.

At 72-4, Blackrod appeared to be coasting to victory, but then lost five wickets for just three runs with Adnan Mufti taking three wickets for two runs, and Mustafa Bashir the other two for one run in his spell of 5-29.

Fortunately for Blackrod, Ready and Hassan Bhojani held their nerve to find the remaining five runs.

On Sunday, in the Lancashire Knockout, Roe Green defeated Little Lever by more than 100 runs and Westhoughton secured a 100-run win against Kirkham and Wesham.

From 57-0, Westhoughton stumbled to 101-5 but eventually ended on 234. Harry Honor took 4-25 and Liam Morrell 3-30 for Westhoughton after tea.

The situation appeared even worse for Farnworth Social Circle, who had only scored 50 when the sixth wicket fell.

Ben Hamilton led the recovery with 67no. Circle eventually ended on 163, which proved to be 25 too many for Lancaster.

Chasing Cheshire Lines’ 142, Horwich found themselves six wickets down with less than half the required runs on the board.

But 40 runs for Jordan Higham ensured a place in the second round for his team.