FARNWORTH Social Circle won their fourth straight Anthony Axford Indoor Cricket Trophy on Sunday.

The indoor specialists won the annual four-week Bolton Cricket League competition with victory over Lostock in the final after beating Astley Bridge in the last four.

Social Circle will now go on to represent Bolton in the Lancashire area finals of the national competition in December.

In the final, Social Circle won the toss and put Lostock in to bat.

A total of 74 was mainly due to a fine batting performance by captain Connor Hicklin, who top scored with 38 not out – a score which earned him the man-of-the-match award.

Dave Mather, who was Social Circle captain for the day, had figures of 1-10 from his three overs.

In reply, Social Circle were made to work hard in the early overs, but an excellent performance by Connor Ashworth (25no) and with the aid of 18 extras, Social Circle won by five wickets in the 11th over.

Earlier in the day, Social Circle lost the toss in the first semi-final and were asked to bat.

They scored 96-1 with a good batting performance by Liam Ashworth (26no), ably supported by Richard Dempster (21no) and Connor Thompson (21).

Joe Ducker had the best bowling performance with 1-15 off his three overs.

In reply, Astley Bridge never fully recovered from losing Min Patel in the first over and battled to 68 all out.

Ducker capped a fine all-round performance by top scoring with 18.

Lostock beat Farnworth in the other semi-final, the latter setting a target of 71-3 (Simon Booth 19no, Neil Hyde 18).

James Evans was the pick of the Lostock bowlers with 2-11 off his three overs.

In reply, opening batsmen Rob Holgate and Matthew Leach formed an excellent opening partnership with both retiring on 26, leaving Hicklin and Alex Senior to see them home comfortably in 6.3 overs.