The second half of the Bolton Cricket League Second XI season is now well under way and despite last week’s inclement weather almost all games were completed, albeit with reduced overs in most cases.

Game of the day took place in the Association section at Atherton where the home side squeezed past Walkden with just two balls to spare.

Walkden batted first and made a very useful 218-6 in their reduced allocation of 38 overs.

Mehran Anwar (57) and Rasik Senghaal (64) set the platform with a stand of 108 for the third wicket and then Abubaker Shakhale added a useful 31 later in the innings.

Atherton’s chase was spearheaded by Jon Fearick, who made 64, with further useful knocks from Dan Hudspith (36) and Mark Parry (33) proving just enough to secure the win.

Kearsley blasted their way to 192-9 in just 24 overs against Blackrod but amazingly it did not prove to be enough as their visitors replied in kind to gain a five-wicket win.

Neil Thompson led the way for Kearsley, making 75, with Mohsin Patel (35) and Fenton Davies (32) adding more handy runs as Daniel Cooke claimed 4-53.

It was to prove in vain, though, as half-centuries from Tom Westhead and Steven Ashworth, together with 36 from Matt Westhead, saw Blackrod home.

There was another tight game at Victory Road where Horwich RMI edged past their hosts Little Lever by a margin of two wickets.

The home side went in first and, with Andy Taylor taking 4-51, were restricted to 148-9 in their 32 overs despite 50 for Matt Pendlebury and Tim Taylor making 30.

RMI were set a revised target of 156, and despite Don Heyes taking 3-21 and Myles Hayhurst 3-73, reached their target inside 21 overs with Max Adamson hitting 77 and Mark Knowles 27.

Farnworth Social Circle came out on top of a low-scoring game at Tonge where they reached a revised target of 100 with seven wickets down.

Tonge never got to grips with the conditions, batting first and struggling to just 93-9 with the top individual score being 16. Andrew Wareing (3-15) and Haashim Ahmed (3-17) did the damage with the ball.

Circle did not have things all their own way, losing wickets regularly, but an unbeaten 28 from Christian Walsh saw them home.

In the Premiership, Farnworth continued their winning streak with a comfortable win against Lostock with some 20 overs to spare.

Set a revised target of 116 in 33 overs, they raced home in just 13 led by Bilal Khan (39) and Michael Daley (21) to secure a seven-wicket win.

Lostock had earlier struggled to get going against some tight bowling led by Zahid Butt (3-32) and only Jameel Rehman (31) and Lucky Issa (20) made any real contribution to a disappointing 99-7.

The final league game of the day saw Westhoughton reach a DLS-revised target with three wickets to spare to beat Little Hulton.

Little Hulton batted first, and despite 20 from Lister Wilson found themselves 58-8 before a ninth-wicket stand of 74 between Umar Rathore (45) and Neil Jarvis (27) helped them reach a more respectable 136 as Liam Morrell took 3-46.

Three wickets for John Wallwork checked the reply but in the end 33 from Phil Wakefield and 27 from Ryan Ashcroft saw Westhoughton home.

The semi-finals of the Birtwistle Cup on Sunday produced a local derby for the final as both Farnworth and Farnworth Social Circle won through in contrasting styles.

Social recovered from losing a wicket to the first ball to post a very handy 205-7, thanks initially to Stephen Edwards (77) and Tim Barrow (56) and then later a handy 24 from Bradley Barrow.

Bradley then added 3-23 with the ball as he and Christian Walsh (5-11) checked what looked like being a good chase when Stephen Kaye (33) and Amit Dashore (76) got them off to a great start but the rest of the batting fell away.

Farnworth, meanwhile, enjoyed a very easy win against Eagley as they raced to a seven-wicket triumph after bowling their visitors out for a meagre 60.

Eagley never recovered from an early burst which reduced them to 28-7, although Mike Craig’s 19 not out helped push the total higher as Victor Walcott took 4-8 and Shujat Ali 3-20. Osama Amjad then hit a rapid 31no to seal the win.