It's Elton's title but not before a scare

The Bury side led for most of the season but had been unable to shake off Darcy Lever's challenge until a seven-wicket victory at Golborne took their points tally out of Darcy's reach.

Elton almost pressed the self-destruct button 24 hours earlier when, chasing 83 posted by second bottom Lostock, they inexplicably crashed to 58 all out. Luckily for them, Darcy, who started the weekend 22 points adrift, also suffered a shock defeat, failing to take the 20 winning points against bottom club, Golborne, who won by 27 runs.

Lostock pro Lukman Vahaluwala took 5-25 and Charig Vohra 4-30 to deny Elton, while Golborne's Graham Marston struck a superb 123 against Darcy before Dale Tyrer, who had earlier hit 57, took six wickets with Barry Greenwood taking the other four.

Normality was resumed on Sunday when Elton showed Darcy how to beat Golborne, whittling the strugglers out for 71 before coasting to victory -- and the title.

Darcy also got it right on Sunday with a six-wicket victory over Clifton with Nick Fawcett hitting an unbeaten 64. But it was too late to keep their title challenge alive.

Lostock, with only four league wins before the weekend, came within a whisker of adding two in two days, following Saturday's stunning victory with a tie against Standish.

Standish grabbed a single off the last ball to equal Lostock's 170 of which Vahaluwala scored 65 and Lukman Issa 43, Standish pro Mike Crookson taking 5-35. For Standish Mark Eddleston top scored with 74.

Walshaw moved to 16 points behind Darcy with one game left after two convincing victories.

On Saturday they beat Atherton by eight wickets with pro Jonathan Fielding taking six wickets and scoring 72 not out, and Robin Faulkner taking three wickets and hitting 51 not out.

On Sunday the Bury side destroyed Astley and Tyldesley by 197 runs, Faulkner scoring 53 runs and Brett Collins 40 in 19 balls. Fielding and Liam Riley both took four wickets as A&T only managed 50 all out.

Other top bowling performances of the weekend included Matthew Taylor's 6-39 for Adlington and David Hughes' 5-37, and deputy pro Narendra Hirwani's 5-27 for A&T in Adlington's 39-run win; Daisy Hill deputy pro Antonio Mayers' 5-26 in his side's 12-run victory over Edgworth; Mark Lee's 5-25 for Little Hulton in their 17-run win over Clifton and Little Hulton pro Ijaz Mahmood's 5-75 in their defeat to Adlington.

The rest of the weekend batting came from Blackrod deputy pro Mike O'Rourke with a stunning 154 not out, Ashley Perry with 68 for Little Hulton, Rob Turnbull with 53 for Spring View and David Hamilton with a half century for Clifton.

ELTON won their first Bolton Association title 10 years after joining the league.

The Bury side led for most of the season but had been unable to shake off Darcy Lever's challenge until a seven-wicket victory at Golborne took their points tally out of Darcy's reach.

Elton almost pressed the self-destruct button 24 hours earlier when, chasing 83 posted by second bottom Lostock, they inexplicably crashed to 58 all out. Luckily for them, Darcy, who started the weekend 22 points adrift, also suffered a shock defeat, failing to take the 20 winning points against bottom club, Golborne, who won by 27 runs.

Lostock pro Lukman Vahaluwala took 5-25 and Charig Vohra 4-30 to deny Elton, while Golborne's Graham Marston struck a superb 123 against Darcy before Dale Tyrer, who had earlier hit 57, took six wickets with Barry Greenwood taking the other four.

Normality was resumed on Sunday when Elton showed Darcy how to beat Golborne, whittling the strugglers out for 71 before coasting to victory -- and the title.

Darcy also got it right on Sunday with a six-wicket victory over Clifton with Nick Fawcett hitting an unbeaten 64. But it was too late to keep their title challenge alive.

Lostock, with only four league wins before the weekend, came within a whisker of adding two in two days, following Saturday's stunning victory with a tie against Standish.

Standish grabbed a single off the last ball to equal Lostock's 170 of which Vahaluwala scored 65 and Lukman Issa 43, Standish pro Mike Crookson taking 5-35. For Standish Mark Eddleston top scored with 74.

Walshaw moved to 16 points behind Darcy with one game left after two convincing victories.

On Saturday they beat Atherton by eight wickets with pro Jonathan Fielding taking six wickets and scoring 72 not out, and Robin Faulkner taking three wickets and hitting 51 not out.

On Sunday the Bury side destroyed Astley and Tyldesley by 197 runs, Faulkner scoring 53 and Brett Collins 40 in 19 balls. Fielding and Liam Riley both took four wickets as A&T only managed 50.

Other top bowling performances included Matthew Taylor's 6-39 for Adlington and David Hughes' 5-37, and deputy pro Narendra Hirwani's 5-27 for A&T in Adlington's 39-run win; Daisy Hill deputy pro Antonio Mayers' 5-26 in his side's 12-run victory over Edgworth; Mark Lee's 5-25 for Little Hulton in their 17-run win over Clifton and Little Hulton pro Ijaz Mahmood's 5-75 in their defeat by Adlington.

The pick of the weekend batting came from Blackrod deputy pro Mike O'Rourke with a stunning 154 not out, Ashley Perry with 68 for Little Hulton, Rob Turnbull with 53 for Spring View and David Hamilton with a half century for Clifton.