LOSTOCK lead the way in the Second XI Premiership Division but just one point separates the top five sides with Darcy Lever, Farnworth Social Circle, Astley Bridge and Adlington behind the table-toppers.

The leaders lost their first game of the season at Sharples Park where Astley Bridge defeated them by eight wickets having bowled them out for just 98.

Lucky Issa was the only batsman to make much of an impression as Paresh Patail (4-29) and Ramesh Patel (4-18) bowled well for the home side.

Ady Cooper then hit an unbeaten 47 to see his side home with time to spare.

Michael Daley was the star of the show as Farnworth Social Circle rattled up an imposing 300-6 against Bradshaw at The Rigbys.

Daley hit a superb unbeaten 155, including 11 sixes and eight fours, with good support coming from Michael Knight (40) and Zac Wilson (31) as Ian Ross tried hard to stem the tide, taking 4-63.

Simon Harrison (4-30) and Jess Bradley (4-50) then made sure their efforts with the bat were not wasted as they helped dismiss Bradshaw for just 127 in reply – only Rob Trengrove (33) and Matt Hilton (26) showing much resistance.

Despite being bowled out for just 99, Adlington battled back strongly to secure a perhaps surprising 26-run win against Horwich RMI at Meadow Street.

Andrew Leyland, with a battling 52, was mainly instrumental for them setting a target of 100 as Dean Morris, Kaleem Asghar and Kieran Barlow all took three wickets for RMI.

Any hopes of an easy win were soon dispelled by a fine spell of 5-32 from Leon Morris as RMI slumped to just 73 in reply with no batsmen getting beyond 15.

A rain-affected game between Westhoughton and Heaton brought about a close finish as the former finished just eight runs short of a DLS adjusted target of 219.

Ian Pilkington hit 52, T J Pindoria 54 and Arun Pindoria 26, but they finished agonisingly short on 211-5.

Earlier, Heaton had made a very useful 245-7 despite a fine spell of bowling from Seb Miller who took 4-22, with the leading contributions coming from Jake Corrigan (64), Kishen Patel (55 not out) and Tom McGivern (45).

Darcy Lever made relatively short work of Kearsley at The Levers as they romped to an eight-wicket win against their visitors.

The experienced Darren Whittle, who made 37, and Josh Roscoe (21no) did well but the rest of the batting floundered against some tight bowling, led by Toseef Hanif who took 4-31.

Darcy then dashed to the win, led by an undefeated 48 from Aaqib Pervez and 26 from Arslan Javad.

Golborne are setting the pace in the Association Division following a 37-run win at Little Lever which leaves them four points clear of second-placed Blackrod.

Brett Houghton provided the platform for their final total of 170 all out with a determined 60 as Jo Rushton bowled superbly to take 5-26.

Gareth Moxon (39) and Bob Waller (32) then took Lever to 70-0 but the introduction of George Corfield, who went on to take 5-34, and Tom Owen (3-25) saw them collapse from there to 133 all out in response.

Blackrod continued their good start with an impressive 269-9 against Daisy Hill on the way to a comprehensive 147-run win.

Tom Keegan led the way with a fine 84, supported well by Chris Readey (47) and Will Powell, with 37, as Darren Buckley tried hard to stem the tide with 4-46.

Tony Tipping, with 4-11, and Powell (3-29) then proved too much for the Daisy batsmen with Mike Leeming proving the main obstacle as he made 28.

Farnworth got home by just one wicket chasing a DLS-adjusted target against Little Hulton at Bridgeman Park. After the visitors had been dismissed for 170 the target was adjusted following a shower of rain and Farnworth edged in with the last pair at the wicket.

Ian Lee took 4-48 but 38 from Rizwan Pervez and 26 from Kevin Rogerson proved just enough to help their team home.

Both had also bowled well earlier with Pervez taking 4-38 and Rogerson 3-38 to help bowl Little Hulton out for 170, despite a fine 53 from Ashley Perry and 30 from Ben Hamilton.

Tonge got their first win of the season as they defeated visitors Walkden by 153 runs at Castle Hill.

Nathan Rushton was the only visiting batsman to show much resistance to the bowling of George Leather (4-12) and Dan Hunt (4-64) making 33 of his side's 110 all out.

Hasib Patel had been the star of the show for Tonge making a superb 132 out of a total of 263-6 with Sajid Patel chipping in with a useful 32.

Atherton also got off the mark as they beat Eagley by 52 runs at Higham Park after posting a score of 166-6 batting first.

Consistent batting down the order, with five scores of more than 20 led by Dan Hudspith (44) and Dale Tyrer (38), built up the score as Dan Counsell took 3-43.

David Baines then ripped the heart out of the Eagley reply, taking 5-36 as they collapsed to 114 in reply with only Tom Mitchell (25) and Ryan Garner (22) causing the bowlers many problems.

Sunday's quarter-finals of the Stafford Trophy saw Darcy Lever, Astley Bridge and Farnworth Social Circle win, while the Eagley v Kearsley tie will now be played tomorrow.

Darcy Lever progressed after a 61-run win against Lostock at The Levers having made a useful 186 batting first. Zeeshan Ali led the way for them with 53, with good support coming from Bilal Khan (34) and Aaqib Pervez (27) as Will Berry took 3-11.

Stephen Kaye (46) and Lucky Issa (26) threatened to chase down the target but once they were out the rest of the batting crumbled to 125 all out with Shakeel Khan taking 3-11.

A remarkable rain-reduced game saw Social Circle defeat Walkden by four wickets at The Oval.

The home side batted first and smashed 133-4 in just 16 overs as Mo Razzaq rattled up a rapid unbeaten 59 and Nathan Rushton scored 38.

Undaunted, Circle reached their target in just 15.4 overs thanks to 50 from David Tonge, 24 from Michael Knight and 21 each from Michael Daley and Andrew Wareing at a rate of over 8.5 runs an over.