THE power struggle in the Association appears to be switching from east to west.

Following Walshaw's dominance of the championship over the past three years, there has been a surge of good results coming from Wigan sides Standish and Spring View while not forgetting current table toppers Golborne.

All three produced wins on Saturday and now sit proudly at the top of the table.

Golborne held their top spot at the expense of Daisy Hill thanks to pro Lee Baldwin and Graham Martson. Daisy Hill had reached a respectable 197-5 but did not have the depth in bowling to test the leaders as Baldwin hit an unbeaten 77 and Marston 82 not out in an impressive and winning total of 199-2.

Second placed Spring View were far too good for Edgworth, comprehensively beating them by 80 runs.

First they totalled 189 with Paul Matthews top scoring while a versatile bowling attack never gave the Edgworth batsmen a chance, bowling them out for a disappointing 109.

Standish had an eight wickets win at Lostock, who were playing their first home game of the season following their clubhouse fire.

Phil Knowles 36 and Yasir Khan 31 top scored in Lostock's total of 117 but it was another Knowles, this time Steve, who set up the victory for Standish hitting 41 in his side's winning total.

So what of reigning champions Walshaw and their bid to add a fourth successive title to their already impressive collection?

They will quite rightly say that it is still early days but they would have been disappointed on Saturday not to have taken winning points against a weakened Blackrod side.

They did the first part of the job, pro Jonathan Fielding top scoring with 72 in a total of 179 that looked good enough to defend yet although they came within an ace of landing the win they were held up by the home side's last pair, particularly teenager Steve Ashworth, who finished on 36 not out, after they had been reduced to 66-6 at one stage.

Atherton and Little Hulton served up a batting feast in a match that produced over 400 runs.

Phil West hit 104 and contributed to a fourth wicket partnership of 157 with Philip Wakefield, who hit 71. That helped Atherton to 242-5 but Little Hulton responded positively and at the finish had logged 204-6. Pro Ijaz top scored with 48 while Paul Craig added 43 and Ashley Parry 34.

Adlington suffered badly at Elton, where their batting let them down again. The home side totalled 174-8 with pro Chris Hall hitting 73, having been dropped when he was one, while Rashid Riaz chipped in with 30.

In reply Adlington were skittled for 82, Hall completing a good day with 6-32, the only resistance coming from 17-year-old Nick Boden who showed the application that was needed scoring an unbeaten 28.