THERE is a new look at the top of the table after the leading pair both lost on Saturday and the three teams immediately behind them all won.
Two of that quintet met each other at Egerton where the home side hosted a Farnworth team who began the day in fifth place.
Farnworth toppled their opponents from pole position as the won convincingly by 59-runs.
It was largely due to a devastating performance with the ball by Adil Nisar.
The Farnworth ace tore through the home side’s batting order with a supreme 6-23 as Egerton could only muster 131 chasing 188.
Earlier, Farnworth pro Kamran Sajid top scored with 51 and Simon Booth added 27 not out at number seven to creep the total up enough to make life difficult for Egerton.
The home side were going well enough early on when number three, debutant pro Mahela Udawatta scored 38 and number four Daniel Partington added 40.
But Nisar then got into full flow and the Saturday morning leaders had no answer to him.
Westhoughton also dropped down the table from second going into their game at Little Lever.
A dramatic catch by Josh Hill in the third-to-last over was the key moment in Little Lever’s 27-run win.
The Victory Road side posted 206-7 that was always going to be competitive.
And it looked like it would be much more than enough when Westhoughton looked dead and buried at 62-8.
But the early-season high-flyers were not finished yet and pro Qaiser Abbas took the game by the scruff of the neck.
He threatened to win the game almost single-handedly with a magnificent batting performance.
He was in complete control and batting magnificently when, with less than three overs to go and on 116, he hit a big shot to the boundary.
There was Hill to pull off what was probably the match-winning catch, but not before jangling the home side’s nerves by juggling it three times before it finally settled in his hands.
Sajid Mahmood – namesake of the Boltonian former Lancashire player – had a memorable debut for Little Lever.
He took 5-61, all five coming in a devastating early wicket blitz.
Abbas was not the only man to hit a century. Earlier, Little Lever pro Zain Abbas also produced a batting masterclass when he scored 102 to dominate his side’s innings.
His side’s next best score 23 by both Ayaz Hanif and Dane Hargreaves.
Farnworth Social Circle were simply too good for Eagley as they eased to a 71-run win.
The Farnworth men racked up 220-8 in the first innings which always looked well out of Eagley’s reach.
Pro Rameez Alam top scored with 63 and Tim Barrow (36), Liam Ashworth (35), James McDomagh (30) and Andrew Lane (26) bumped up the score early on.
Pro Awais Zia took 5-78 for Eagley who never looked like getting close to their target in their reply.
Saif Bhojani top scored for them with 32 and number seven Paul Rayment added 30 while FSC’s Dave Mather bowled a full 25 overs for 5-52.
Tonge continued to struggle as they succumbed to a 143-run defeat at home to Kearsley.
The visitors posted 250-6 of which Saeed Anwar Jnr scored 73 and Richard Hamblett 52 before Tonge were all out in 30.2 overs, Zeeshan Mirza and Asad Tariq showing some resistance at numbers four and five with 27 and 26 as did number nine Dave Bath with 23. No one else scored more than five. Darren Whittle was the pick of the bowlers with 4-27.
Horwich, who started the day third, eased to a six-wicket victory over Walkden after whittling out the visitors for just 64.
Ryan Chaisty settled down the victorious home side with an unbeaten 34 after they had been 20-3.
Earlier, Rakeb Mahmood took 5-38 and Babar Naeem 4-4 while Rafi Afridi top scored with 29 for Walkden who were on the receiving end of a brilliant catching performance by the home side.
Josh Macey took 6-41 in 7.4 overs to put Greenmount – who began the day in fourth place - in control in their five-wicket victory at Bradshaw.
Phil Heaton chipped in with 2-23 as Mark Stewart failed to hog the bowling headlines for once.
Anthony Jones had a long stay at the crease for his 35 but nobody could stick around with him for long to build a decent score as Bradshaw were all out for 108.
Heaton then scored 30 not out and Stuart Hornby took 3-40 while the wayward Bradshaw bowling resulting in 23 wides – among 28 extras – of which 15 were five-wides.
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