DARCY Lever's youth policy is starting to pay dividends.

Over the last few years the Bolton Association club have been carefully bringing through a crop of exciting young talent.

And now those players are experiencing first team action with the promise of more to come.

"I think we probably have the youngest team in the Association," said club official Jim Fawcett this week, "and up to now they have been doing a great job for us.

"Nick Fawcett is currently top of the amateur batsmen and Andy Stocks is consistently producing good bowling figures.

"Also we have the likes of Dominic Gavin and Martin Eccles coming through as well as others, who have all been with the club for something like six or seven years.

The club made the decision some years ago to look seriously at bringing through a stock of young players and most of them are still with the club.

"We are carrying out exactly what we planned to do several years ago and that is more pleasing than anything.

"And the real benefit is that we are now looking at a settled squad of talented cricketers for some years to come, " said Jim.

qIT was not quite like an episode of Last of the Summer Wine, but Steve Walsh and Rudi Smith turned out to be heroes for Astley and Tyldesley last weekend.

The pair steered A & T to a superb one run win over Wigan in the National Knockout despite a combined age of, well, advancing years.

Smith, who has the impressive first names of Rudolph Leopold, hit a spate of sixes in an unbeaten innings of 46 while Walsh stuck to his task with 13 not out as A & T edged past Wigan's impressive 239-6.

And for Walsh it was almost a run too far. He said: "When I'd finished I'd pulled a hamstring in one leg and strained a calf muscle in the other. I can't remember when I last batted for so long."

The pair are currently locked in a battle of who is the senior member of the side.

Walsh reckons Smith is older than him and vice-versa.

Smith has played in many of the surrounding local leagues and only started to play for A & T after moving to Astley a short time ago.

"He came into the club for a drink, he'd not played serious cricket for a while but asked if he could get a game and since then he's more than proved his worth," said Walsh.

"But he's still older than I am."