ON Saturday I saw a match and a half. By that I don't mean that I saw a terrific game, writes Peter Stafford.

Far from it! What I mean is that, at Farnworth, I watched the whole of their encounter with Little Lever, and then moved across to Springfield Road just in time for the start of Kearsley's innings as they took a further authoritative step towards the League Championship.

But back to Farnworth. In the recent past, my coverage of Little Lever's matches have coincided with some of their more lamentable displays. But not on Saturday.

From ball one, Farnworth, weakened by the early return to Australia of Stuart Anderson and the absence of Zaheer Abbas, were never really at the races and, before you could say 'West Indies', they were deep in the mire, struggling at 10 for 5, and, seemingly, without any real answer to the bowling of Lee Baldwin and Paul Rayment.

Baldwin in particular was well backed-up by his fielders, and the dismissal of Childs owed more to the superb catch taken by Mark Martin than it did to the short, wide delivery. Simon Harrison's second catch at slip to get rid of Axford was only slightly less noteworthy, and when Baldwin bowled Walsh to make the score 14 for 6, arguments were beginning to break out as to what was Farnworth's lowest-ever total.

I recalled being part of an all-out 19 at Astley Bridge in 1959, but Paul Killey assured us that they had been bowled out for two runs less at some later date.

None of that mattered, however, as Bill Noakes and Lee Sutton took it up to 24 before Sutton was bowled by Rayment. Now came the one partnership of the innings as Noakes and Stuart Marsh added another 21, all of which were scored by the Farnworth captain, whose four 4s and one superbly straight-driven six forced Little Lever into a bowling change that, at one time, hadn't looked to be necessary.

After Baldwin had dismissed Marsh, Justin Orchard replaced Rayment, and, almost immediately, the South African bowled Noakes, caught flat-footed in attempting an off-drive. Three runs later it was all over, with Noakes having hit 27 of the all-out 48. Only two other fours had been hit, one each by Killey and Sutton. and, like the West Indian collapse an hour or two earlier, it had been something of a mixture of poor batting and good bowling, particularly that of Lee Baldwin, who had taken 5 for 27 from his 15 overs.

The trouble with a short innings such as this is that, when it is linked to a one o'clock start, you find yourself eating your tea at somewhere around half past two, which, when I began playing Bolton League cricket, was the normal starting time!

Little Lever's reply was in the hands of Lee Baldwin and Justin Orchard. Less than a month ago. I wrote that I had never seen Orchard score more than a couple of dozen, and now he began to show me just what I had been missing. The first ball of the innings was exquisitely driven to the boundary, and that was followed by a short-arm pull through wide long-on and a back-foot cover drive, each for four more, and we were in the first over! Forty-seven balls later, it was all over. Of the 50 runs scored without loss, Orchard had hit 45, which had come from seven 4s and two 6s. The second of which signalled the end of Farnworth's humiliation as it disappeared over Brian Road!

After the game, Paul Rayment told me that he had decided to call a halt to his days as a professional. He just doesn't consider himself fit enough to carry on bowling, even off his shortened run-up, and he will, in future seasons, play purely as a batsman.

Since he first burst on to the local scene in 1991 at Bradshaw with that spectacular 1000-run/100-wicket double, he has taken 647 Bolton League wickets and it will be interesting to see if his run output increases as he gives his undivided attention to his batting. I have the feeling that it will.

I arrived at Kearsley to find that Mel Whittle and Akber had bowled Farnworth Social Circle out for 127. Richard Hope had batted through the Circle innings for 75, having offered only one chance, and that to the normally reliable Tom Whittle who had spilled it! The fact that it was off Mel's bowling would have guaranteed interesting conversation over tea, but Tom got his chance to make amends later in the game after Kearsley had spluttered to 50-odd for 5.

With Swift, Ratledge, Thomson, Foy and Partington back in the tent, and a first league defeat looming, the task of rebuilding the innings was down to Whittle and Chris Monks. Slowly at first, and then gradually gathering impetus, they pulled things round, and went on to win the game for their side. Monks played well, but, as rescue innings go, Whittle's was as good as it gets, particularly as Circle's bowlers, well backed-up in the field, gave very little away.

To win from that kind of a situation is the hallmark of a championship team. Obviously, the stars in the side have shone with a consistent brightness, but, over the season, Kearsley have played intelligently as a unit. And never moreso than Whittle and Monks did on Saturday.