WALSHAW celebrated in defeat on Sunday when they clinched the Bolton Association championship with three games to play.

A shock defeat for closest challengers Clifton secured the Bury side the title after they had dominated the league all season.

It was ironic that a side which had scarcely put a foot wrong all season should complete a superb achievement after losing a game.

But Adlington are never easy to beat and had already chalked up one victory over the new champions in cup competition this season.

Adlington got off to fine start with 61-1 but the game swung Walshaw's way when the visitors were struggling at 84-6 and then 101-8 only to recover to a final score of 169-9, Rawlings making 43 and Mick Howard 24 not out while Jonathan Fielding took 3-34.

That Walshaw fell short of the target was down to Adlington pro Matthew Taylor, who took 5-71, and Howard with 4-34, Mark Goddard and Barry Hamilton top scoring for Walshaw with 29 and 27 as they finished 20 runs short.

Clifton's remarkable recent run suffered a massive dent as lowly Darcy Lever enjoyed an unexpected six-wicket victory.

Pro Jason Whittaker was a huge influence taking 4-49 as Clifton's total was kept down to 116-8 then he scored an unbeaten 27 to add to Gary Harper's fine knock of 46 as victory was secured.

Once title challengers Little Hulton have slipped away in recent times and they avoided a double defeat weekend when Blackrod failed to make the victory target by 12 runs with two wickets remaining.

Mark Lee hit 52 for Little Hulton who were tormented by the bowling of Terry Southworth who claimed six victims for 42 runs. Southworth then hit 28 not out and Adam Coates top scored with 32, Little Hulton pro Dave Parkinson bowling right through the innings for 4-41.

Atherton produced a quality performance to beat Spring View by 58 runs. Philip West scored 84 not out as the home side made 190-7, Ian Murphy taking 3-58 before Greg Greenough (4-44), Jonathan Fearick (3-36) and Paul Walsh (3-29) ripped through the Spring View order.

Standish pipped Daisy Hill to victory in a low scoring game. The Wigan side were dismissed for 108 mainly due to the bowling of pro Chris Jones who took 5-46. But it was enough for victory thanks to Sarker (4-14) and Simon Maiden (4-33).

Daisy managed just 96 runs in their reply but it took a massive collapse for them to fail to win with three of their first four batsmen scoring 72 runs between them.