SIMON Anderton has won the Bolton Cricket League's batting prize.

The Tonge captain helped transform his side from looking like no-hopers at the start of the season to a top four team and winners of the special competition covering the results of the last six games.

At the start of the season, there were fears for Tonge's future after they lost several of their leading players to other clubs during the winter, but Anderton stayed and led the side from the bottom of the league in May to a fourth place finish.

With the bat, he finished with an average of 51.21 after scoring over 700 runs for the season.

Adil Nisar, another Tonge player who also played a leading role with the club during the season, won the Professional's Prize. He got the vote ahead of Westhoughton's Antonio Mayers, who was unlucky not to figure after helping his side to the league championship and failing by only 40 runs to clinch the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets.

David Smith of Walkden took the league's bowling prize for the second successive season after taking 54 wickets at an average of 13.22, while there was a double for Horwich as their captain Grant Long took the catching prize, Jon Partington won the wicketkeeping prize.

Batting: 1st Team -- S. Anderton (Tonge) 21inns-7no-97hs-717runs 51.21ave. 2nd Team -- G Firth (Egerton) 19-6-75*-608-46.77, 3rd Team R Mahmood (Astley Bridge) 173 runs, U15 J Reynard (Heaton) 8-7-52*-336-336, U13 L Tierney (Bradshaw) 9-8-35-255-255.

Bowling: 1st Team -- D Smith (Walkden) 245.5o-63m-714r-54w Ave 13.22. 2nd team S Ainsworth (Bradshaw) 245.6-79-644-63-10.22, 3rd Team -- M Gregory (Bradshaw) 8 wickets, U15 -- J Hay (Egerton) 22.2-3-13-58-4.46, U13 L Tierney (Bradshaw) 27.2-8-74-14-5.29.

Catching: 1st Team -- G Long (Horwich) 19, 2nd Team -- S Woolford (Greenmount) 15, Third Team -- R Mahmood and J Rees (Astley Bridge), A Barton-Wells (Bradshaw), G Bannister (Horwich) and D Sargent (Tonge) 3, U15 -- A Meaney (Heaton) 8, U13 -- C Patterson (Farnworth SC) 5.

Wicketkeeping: 1st Team -- J Partington (Horwich) 51-38c-13s, 2nd Team - M Buckley (Bradshaw) 31- -14-17. Third Team D Hunt (Horwich) 5-3-2. U15 -- S Mather (Farnworth) and A Russell (Heaton) 9-6-3. U13 -- C Haslam (Astley Bridge) and A Hughes (Bradshaw).

Neatest scorebook:1stTeam -- C Burgess (Walkden), 2nd Team -- Miss R Smalley (Farnworth), 3rd Team -- Miss L Johnson (Bradshaw), U15 -- Egerton, U13 -- Bradshaw.

Highest individual score: 1st Team -- P Rayment (Heaton) 118 v Farnworth, 2nd Team -- A Rodzoch (Tonge) 157 v Westhoughton.

Fastest 50: D Rees (Tonge) 26 balls.

Most Sixes: C Barrow (Farnworth SC) 28

Best Bowling In One Match: 1st Team -- N Biggar (Eagley) 8-35 v Farnworth, 2nd Team -- C Lomax (Kearsley) 8-11 v Farnworth, 3rd Team -- A Hough (Astley Bridge) 3-7 v Egerton