Relections By PETER STAFFORD THEN there were two. That was the headline chosen for this article last week, referring, of course to the fact that Kearsley had dropped out of the race for the Fort Sterling Bolton League championship.

But headlines soon become history, and even as people were reading it, the two had narrowed down to one.

At Walkden, Tonge has won an eighth consecutive victory, Farnworth had lost to Westhoughton, and Simon Anderton's side had added the League title to their Hamer Cup win of a month ago.

The reasons for their double success are many and varied. I've heard a great deal during the season about the superb team spirit that exists at Castle Hill, and that's great.

However the same can probably be said of most of the League's teams, some of whom are considerably nearer to the bottom than are Tonge, so there's obviously more to it than that. For a start, it's more than useful to have an international wrist-spinner operating at one end who, more often than not, makes run-scoring, indeed survival, something of a problem.

Last week at Walkden I casually asked Frank Baldwin how long Iqbal's contract had to run at Tonge. "For as long as I'm alive!" he replied. Obviously a slight exaggeration, but I can well understand his sentiments!

The transfer of Ian Taylor's 70-plus wickets from Bridgeman Park to Castle Hill has been an immense bonus.

For some years now, Ian has been one of the League's top performers and his bowling, in harness with that of Sikander, has generally meant that batsmen have been under pressure at both ends from ball one.

Guy Langmaid has provided excellent support when required, and would almost certainly have doubled his quota of both overs and wickets had he been a member of a less talented attack.

If Nigel Partington's run increase has been a revelation, so too has been the inspirational batting of skipper Simon Anderton, who today needed just another 68 to accompany his team-mate past the 1000 for the first time.

Gary Garner's runs have provided a major boost, while Jim Aspden and Sikander have weighed in with another thousand between them. Wicket-keeper Jon Partington has enjoyed another productive season, and if Dimarcello, Waller and Kirkpatrick have had limited opportunities to shine, they have each made match-winning contributions, notably in the wins over Egerton and Social Circle and, in the case of Waller and Kirkpatrick, towards the end of the Hamer Cup Final itself when they managed to keep their nerve during those last few vital moments.

Winning championships is all about bowling sides out, and in that respect, Tonge have done their supporters proud.

In League and Cup, they have achieved that on 16 occasions, with every other club bar one having been beaten at least once, eight of them twice. The exception, of course, was Astley Bridge, one of three sides to beat Tonge during their rocky mid-season period in late June and early July. Last Sunday, Bridge laid further claims to their reputation as Tonge's bogey team when, thanks to a particularly fine innings from Richard Northrop, they halted the champions' run of eight straight wins which had, the previous day, taken them to a hard-earned and thoroughly well-merited first title since 1973.

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