Little Lever v Kearsley THE MOST recent occasion on which I saw Kearsley and Little Lever in opposition prior to last Saturday was last season but one, when Darron Foy's seven for 21 was largely responsible for the Villagers' 10-wicket defeat after they had been bowled out for 50.

Kearsley's win on Saturday was slightly less emphatic, after the home side had been restricted to 147 for eight, and, oddly enough, considering the short time lapse, only three Little Lever players, Rayment, Harrison and Lawson, were survivors of the 1999 debacle.

This was a game that never really reached the heights, and one that will probably only be remembered for any length of time by two batsmen, one from each side. Little Lever's main man, Lee Baldwin, opened his side's batting, and then stood and watched from the non-striker's end as first Adam Lawson and then Anthony Hilton capitulated to the bowling of former Little Lever pro Mel Whittle and Kearsley's deputy Rizwan Saeed. At 13 for two there was considerable ground to make up, but batting never really looked easy on a slow low wicket, with the ball not coming on to the bat at any great pace.

When Mark Martin arrived at the wicket, however, things began to look up, and with Baldwin taking every opportunity to push his score along, and Martin playing well in the arc between cover and third man, the pair added 46 before Martin hit a firm return catch to Saeed.

Paul Rayment barely managed to get into double figures before a ball from Whittle kept a little low and knocked back his middle stump, at which Simon Harrison emerged to join Baldwin in the most productive partnership of the innings. By now Baldwin appeared to be completely at ease, and during the 64-run stand he moved to an excellent half-century which, by the time his innings ended, had included two sixes and eight fours.

Harrison, too, played some entertaining shots, although he enjoyed a big slice of luck when he skied a Whittle delivery to such an altitude that, had the police helicopter circled the ground an hour or so earlier than it actually did, the pilot would almost certainly have taken the catch! As it was, practically any fielder in the side could have got under it, but Chris Monks, having drawn the short straw, barely laid a hand on it!

Harrison's luck finally came to an end when, after a major difference of opinion with Baldwin as to what did, and did not, constitute a run, the ball was relayed from fielder to fielder until Saeed finally ran the leg-spinner out.

Amin, after heaving one colossal blow into Lorival, then decided to have nothing to do with Whittle's next delivery which swung from outside the leg-stump to knock out middle, causing general hilarity for everyone except Amin, who had given a creditable impression of a rabbit caught in a car's headlights!

Blinkhorn hit a tame catch to Jordan Thornley from the final ball of the innings, leaving Baldwin undefeated on 82 or, if you like, 60 per cent of his side's runs scored from the bat. He had held the innings together superbly, and given his attack far more at which to bowl than had at one time seemed probable, Whittle's figures of 25-8-59-4 spoke for themselves, while Saeed's two for 81, also from 25 overs, really didn't do him much justice.

He had bowled, better than that, especially early in the innings, and the pair had bowled their overs at the commendable overall rate of 3.2 minutes apiece, some 25 minutes inside the time specified by league rules.

Steve Davies and John Ratledge began cautiously, as if to emphasise the slowness of the wicket. Amin went for only five runs from his first six overs, but it was the hugely promising Paul Tong who made the breakthrough when, at 20, Ratledge, who had thrashed the previous ball through the covers, nudged the next one to Baldwin at slip. Tong, who last week had taken five for 30 against Westhoughton, couldn't manage a repeat performance, but nevertheless conceded only 25 from 10 accurate overs, and after 16 overs had been completed, Kearsley had made only 29.

Davies had received 65 balls before hitting his first boundary, but he was looking solidly assured, setting his stall out sensibly as he added 73 with Simon Thomson. His only moments of good fortune came in the 90s, when from consecutive Baldwin deliveries he was dropped at cover by, of all people, Rayment, before lobbing one just short of Harrison at square-leg.

From then on he looked in little trouble, and after Thomson had nicked Rayment to Blinkhorn, Tom Whittle helped him add the required 55 runs to see Kearsley home and dry by eight wickets with seven overs to spare.

Not, then, one of the Warburtons Bolton League's more memorable matches, but all credit to Baldwin and Davies, who between them hit 152 unbeaten runs on a day when not one of their colleagues could manage 20.

As regards the destination of the League title -- the plot thickens!