THE biggest leap of the day in the Bolton Association came from Atherton whose comprehensive victory over bottom club Daisy Hill saw them go from sixth to third.

David Baines ripped through Daisy with 5-57 to help restrict the strugglers to 122-5, Howard Brooks 27. That was no problem for Atherton with David Charlson hitting a fine 58 not out and Philip West 37.

A rest day proved costly for Spring View, who slipped from top to fourth, two points ahead of Golborne and four in front of Little Hulton, who rose from eighth with a dramatic 27-run victory over Blackrod.

Mark Penney top scored with 57 as Little Hulton set a target of 184-5. They won it with the last ball of the game when Blackrod lost their last man and a share of the spoils.

Penney was a hit with the ball with 4-70 and pro Ijaz Mahmood took 4-23 while Blackrod pro David Morris struck a fine 53.

Adlington might have got better than a draw if anybody could have stayed in with Andrew Robinson as they chased Standish's 161 all out.

Robinson was in fine form with 65 but the next best score was a meagre 11. Earlier Simon Maiden was unbeaten on 40, John Waddington hit 39 and Stephen Knowles 28 for Standish while Adlington pro Matthew Taylor took 5-46. In the reply Standish pro Arindam Sarkar took 4-39.

Lostock played out a draw with Astley and Tyldesley who opened with 149-7, Jimmy Cutt 48 and Chris Bullock 34 not out, Phil Hall 4-49.

In reply pro Reyman Shah struck 40, Yassar Khan 31 and Steve Walsh took 5-45 as Lostock finished on 112-7.

Walshaw are building up a head of steam in search of their fourth successive title.

They have put their three early season defeats behind them with victories over high-flying Spring View and Standish and now Golborne.

The Bury side were devastating against a Golborne side which started the day in second spot, hammering them by 129 runs to jump from fourth to top spot.

Pro Jonathan Fielding was too hot for Golborne to handle. Coming into the game fresh from taking nine wickets for Cumberland against Northumberland in the Minor Counties Championship, he smashed 92 of Walshaw's 199-9 before taking four wickets at a cost of just eight runs as Golborne were whittled out for a meagre 70. Earlier Lee Baldwin had taken four Walshaw wickets for 83 runs and Dave Roberts 3-61.

Elton denied Clifton the chance to go top as the Bury side hung on for a draw. Chasing 152-7, Elton never looked like winning despite a late flurry of runs which saw them finish on 133-9, Reid and Lomax equal top scorers on 24. Clifton pro Dave Parkinson did his best with 4-34 after top scoring with 46 while Dave Wild was unbeaten on 30.