Farnworth took a firm grip on the Bolton League Second XI table after a thrilling three-wicket victory over nearest challengers Little Hulton saw them extend their lead at the top to 13 points.

Just 10 balls remained when they reached their target of 211 with an unbeaten 51 from Kian Rogerson seeing them over the line.

They had recovered from losing two early wickets through the efforts of Shujat Ali (59) and Bilal Khan (43) before Rogerson saw his side home with Dylan Wylie taking 3-45.

Little Hulton had posted a total of 210-8 with the main contributions coming from Ellis Pearson (48), Harrison Calvert (65), Rory McIntyre (22) and Nazim Patel (21) as Jamie Bohannon took 3-40.

Westhoughton sit two points behind Little Hulton in third after another thrilling finish saw them beat Tonge by one wicket as they chased down a daunting 258 to win.

A third-wicket stand of 114 between Jav Bhagat (62) and Robert Tully (75), followed by 25 from Wayne Cook helped Tonge make an impressive 257 despite Michael Foster taking 3-15.

Foster then added 61 with the bat, and with Paul Hart making 53, Jamie Burrow 52 and Ryan Ashcroft 25, Westhoughton just managed to edge home despite George Leather taking 3-42.

Horwich RMI are a point further back following a relatively comfortable nine-wicket win against Atherton at The Recreation Ground.

The visitors batted first and found themselves rolled out for just 120 as Kishan Hira (4-29) and Charlie Ramsden (3-33) had them in trouble – only Greg Greenough with 38 providing prolonged resistance.

Two more of RMI’s youngsters, Jake Swindells and Aryan Ashraf, then made short work of the chase with 51 not out and 60no respectively.

Lostock were another side to enjoy an emphatic win as they disposed of Blackrod by 10 wickets at Chew Moor.

Having bowled out their visitors for 108, they romped home thanks to Stephen Kaye’s 57 and 33 from Amit Dashore.

Ewan Phillips had earlier top scored for Blackrod with 25, but Chris Readey, with 19, was the only other significant effort as Asghar Ali returned 4-35.

In contrast, there was another thriller at The Nest where Eagley edged home by one wicket against battling visitors Kearsley.

Chasing 177, Eagley appeared to be coasting as Tom Mitchell (54) and Luca Doyle added 105 for the first wicket but once they were parted, wickets tumbled regularly as Andy Gregory took 4-36 and George Emmerson and Neil Thompson claimed two wickets each, before they edged over the line.

Doyle had earlier starred with the ball, too, as he took an excellent 6-38 to help restrict Kearsley to 176, despite Abby Mort making 43, Dylan Jones scoring 25 and Jack Pellowe hitting 20.

Farnworth Social Circle romped to an emphatic 215-run victory over Little Lever at Victory Road.

Despite Myles Hayhurst battling hard to take 3-54, Social built up a formidable 310-9 on the back of 65 from Liam Ashworth, Andrew Wareing’s 72, Keane Mulligan scoring 41 and Stephen Edwards hitting 37.

Matthew Pendlebury was then left to plough a lone furrow in the Lever reply, making a determined 51, but other than 19 from Bob Waller the rest had little answer to the bowling of Wareing who added 5-30 to his earlier runs and Marsden Mulligan took 4-14 as they slumped to 95 in reply.

Astley Bridge entertained Walkden at Sharples Park and emerged on top after a pretty comfortable seven-wicket win.

Walkden batted first and eventually made 161, with Mahmood Abbassi hitting 50, Arshad Mehmood 37 and Abubaker Shakhada 23 as both Mehr Khan and Faiz Khandu grabbed four wickets for Bridge.

The home side stormed home for the loss of just three wickets, Shehzad Patel making an unbeaten 61, Kai Hodgkiss 25 and Ady Cooper 23.