Walkden Cricket Club are within two wins of being crowned England's indoor cricket champions.

The Bolton League side won the North of England indoor title at the weekend and now go to Lord's on Sunday week in their quest for a national success.

Their latest victims were Staffordshire champions Coseley and Lincolnshire title holders Bracebridge, and they now join three other regional champions at cricket's headquarters to decide the England Cricket Board finals.

They are the first Bolton side to reach Lord's but after defeat in the final stages of the regional rounds in the last three years, they were beginning to think their chance had gone.

Yet their side of Mike Bennison, captain, David and John Smith, Matt Parkinson, Phil Ingram and Rob Slater, have now established themselves as masters of the indoor game.

They had to use all of their experience to come through two tough weekend challenges.

Against Coseley they were grateful to Ingram and Slater for late runs that helped them reach a reasonable total but things looked desperate when the Staffordshire side raced to 50-1.

The bowling of Ingram and John Smith then applied the brake on the run feast and together with razor sharp fielding, Coseley were dismissed for 112 with three balls remaining.

Walkden also struggled with the bat in the deciding match against Bracebridge but Bennison returned after having retired on 25 and he and John Smith put together a stand that helped the side to 118-5, Bennison finishing with 43 and Smith 36 not out

However, it was a target that looked to be within reach of the Lincolnshire champions but Smith and Ingram bowled well early on to stem the flow of runs. Once the two bowlers had completed their overs, Bracebridge again looked favourites but some quite brilliant fielding restricted them to 97-5.