THE Bolton League won their second successive MEN inter-league final on Sunday - and few would bet against them making it three in a row.

Their 30-run victory over the Northern League - following last season's success against Ribblesdale - was their seventh in total, and captain Dave Morris is now aiming to do the hat-trick.

"We've got such a good side now. Everyone plays for one another," he said. "In fact, we play so well together that people say we're like a club side - a very good club side."

That teamwork was emphasised as the side came through a tricky patch when Northern looked as if they were on course to overhaul Bolton's total of 215.

Aspinwall and Riley had taken them to 90-1, while Bolton had put down three catches. It looked ominous, and even the weather was starting to play a part, as rain began to threaten, with Northern ahead of the 4.3 run-rate.

Yet shrewd bowling from man of the match Tim Barrow, and Dale Jones, started to turn the game Bolton's way.

Barrow broke the partnership by bowling Aspinwall for 41, then a few balls later had Riley caught for 38.

From that point on, Northern at 97-3, started to lose their grip on the game.

With new batsmen at the crease, the run rate slowed and then Barrow struck again. He had Davies caught, then Jones bowled Haworth and Fallows, before Barrow saw his brother Chris take a terrific boundary catch to dismiss Sparks, ending with bowling figures of 4-41.

That left the Northern League in trouble at 152-7, and they had also lost their run-rate advantage as well.

Jonathan Fearick then picked up the wicket of the experienced David Makinson to signal the beginning the end.

Earlier, Bolton had to recover from a poor start when Iqbal Patel was bowled with only three runs on the board, but captain Morris came in to join Gary Garner, and the pair were able to put on 49. That ended when Garner was caught for 22 but Morris and Rick Northrop took the League to 121-2 before the captain was bowled by Makinson for 50.

Northrop went on to make 40, with Paul Rayment adding a valuable 31 but there were doubts whether the 215 -9 total was enough.

"We thought we could defend that," said Morris. "We thought the wicket was going to deteriorate, it didn't, yet we compensated by taking wickets at the right time."