CRAIG Naylor has extended his lead at the top of the Bolton News' Fantasy Cricket competition.

He leads the way with his two main rivals swapping places below him in the competition which is based on selected Bolton League players' performances.

Raj Shah has jumped over Horwich Cricket Club into second place and, given the points difference between Horwich and the teams below, it is difficult to see anyone other than the top three winning the £400 prize sponsored by Anthony Axford timber merchants of Farnworth.

However, as Bolton League vice chairman Phil Andrews proved this week, points hauls just less than 140 are possible.

With some professionals returning home early for various reasons, some Fantasy Cricket teams could be hit in the final two weeks.

There are no new names in the team of the week, with Bradshaw's professional Sachithra Sarasinghe recording a record-breaking 45 points, thanks to his four wickets and unbeaten 191 on Saturday.

With points hauls of more than 40 very rare, it would normally be difficult for anyone to overtake any of the leading three in the player table – Tilaksha Malshan, Adeel Baig and Qaiser Abbas – but much will depend on the availability of players and the weather.

A good week for Walkden's Tahir Magsood means he could just force his way into the team of the season.

Points in the Fantasy Cricket competition, in which The Bolton News has teamed up with the Bolton Cricket League, are awarded to the players depending on how well they perform in the 18 league games.

The winning entrant will be the one who amasses the most points throughout the season and the competition is based on the MVP (Most Valuable Player) statistics from the electronic scoring system CricHQ.

Entrants selected five players from the Premier Division and five from the Association Division plus one professional from either division.

The fun game runs throughout the Bolton League season and every Thursday an updated table is in The Bolton News and on our website.

The points scoring sees a bowler’s unassisted wicket worth 2.5 points.

A wicket taken with the assistance of a fielder or wicketkeeper is worth 1.25 points for the bowler and 1.25 points for the fielder or wicketkeeper.

A bowler is awarded a 10-per-cent bonus for each subsequent wicket, and is rewarded if their economy rate is lower than the team’s average and penalised if it is higher.

A fielder earns 2.5 points for each run out, and a 10-per-cent bonus for each subsequent catch or run out. Batsmen earn 2.5 points for every 25 runs scored, and are rewarded if their strike rate is higher than the team’s average and penalised if it is lower.

Batsmen lower down the order can earn bonuses not available to the batsmen higher in the order.

Only the main Bolton League competition will count towards the points, and players need to be participating to add to their points.

The prize money will be shared if there is more than one winner.

TABLE AS IT STANDS

BCL Fantasy Cricket leaderboard week 16

Pos Team Pts

1 Craig Naylor 1349.72

2 Raj Shah 1328.28

3 HORWICH CC 1322.45

4 Mike Leeming 1264.63

5 Daniel Holmes 1259.22

6 Stuart Leigh 1241.43

7 Iain McLellan 1240.41

8 Neil Kell 1234.40

9 Aiden Constantine 1225.34

10 Tom Senior 1218.69

11 Connor Lord 1215.77

12 Anthony Foster 1214.98

13 David Morris 1211.33

14 Steven Chilton 1206.52

15 WESTHOUGHTON CC 1202.10

16 Tim Barrow 1201.45

17 Garry Brown 1197.02

18 ADLINGTON CC 1189.94

19 Chris Hobson 1180.19

20 Paul Walsh 1165.85

21 Phil Andrews 1162.63

22 Craig Berry 1147.54

23 Leanne Taylor 1146.67

24 Caroline Riley 1132.74

25 Alex Lee 1130.02

26 Ron Dickenson 1126.41

27 Mike Cregan 1124.95

28 Neil Redford 1124.03

29 Ray Taylor 1120.19

30 Danny Khan 1118.79

31 Gary Tonge 1118.71

32 David Cryer 1110.09

33 Simon Booth 1106.96

34 Curtis Anderton 1096.71

35 Nick Ford 1091.81

36 Calum Barlow 1078.68

37 Tom Sheen 1075.92

38 Tiana Lowe 1065.79

39 Seb Miller 1062.54

40 Andrew Lane 1061.63

41 Jason Raynor 1053.08

42 Steve Hodgkinson 1042.93

43 Robert Hardman 1041.65

44 Michael Chilton 1038.53

45 Danny Delvard 1038.26

46 Josh Gilluley 1036.00

47 John Barrow 1033.46

48 Harry Morgan 1030.15

49 Paul Hutchinson 1028.23

50 Stephen Berry 1026.37

51 Michael Rutherford 1020.12

52 "Little Jen" 1015.76

53 LOSTOCK CC 1010.22

54 Grant Cordin 1009.04

55 Barrie Cryer 1002.43

56 Sehran Khan 1001.44

57 David Tonge 998.44

58 Demelza Kendall 987.12

59 Sue Taylor 980.82

60 Mark Atherton 980.29

61 Ian Pilkington 976.28

62 Lee Bridge 972.61

63 Chris Parsons 968.19

64 TONGE CC 962.98

65 Thomas James 946.38

66 Tayler Heyes 933.63

67 Chris Barrow 929.48

68 Chris Worrall 929.16

69 Tom Schofield 928.13

70 Mark Howarth 925.87

71 Paul Schofield 911.75

72 Mark Crowder 885.63

73 FARNWORTH CC 885.63

74 Matthew Hargraves 871.36

75 Nikki Taylor 866.01

76 Steven Williams 864.43

77 Bradley Yates 855.04

78 Dave Halliday 839.03

79 Cameron Murray 837.48

80 Lewis Andrews 832.74

81 Tracey Phillips 832.22

82 Tom Hardstaff 817.07

83 Zak Burton 817.05

84 LITTLE HULTON CC 806.00

85 Graham Oxtoby 804.10

86 EAGLEY CC 772.17

87 Mike Buckley 767.55

88 Mr W D Entwistle 751.21

89 GOLBORNE CC 735.69

90 ATHERTON CC 725.40

91 HEATON CC 718.79

92 DAISY HILL CC 667.44

93 Jackie Yates 666.63

94 LITTLE LEVER CC 657.22

95 KEARSLEY CC 635.61

96 BLACKROD CC 622.95

97 FARNWORTH SC CC 591.48

98 WALKDEN CC 589.94

99 ASTLEY BRIDGE CC 587.44

100 DARCY LEVER CC 551.69

101 Bradley Barrow 521.82

102 Niall Burke 521.13

103 BRADSHAW CC 452.02

104 Dominique Hankinson 413.11

PLAYER MVP POINTS TOTALS WEEK 16

Code Player Club Type Pts

1006 Tilaksha Malshan Tonge PRO 244.73

1078 Adeel Baig Atherton PRO 240.53

1090 Qaiser Abbas Westhoughton PRO 224.65

1095 Majid Majeed Adlington PRO 209.97

1067 Tushendra De Zoyza Blackrod PRO 209.29

1018 Kamran Younas Farnworth PRO 201.34

1013 Agha Salman Eagley PRO 195.45

1129 Ryan Ayres Farnworth SC NON 176.06

1161 Dave Flanagan Lostock NON 165.00

1048 Adil Nisar Little Lever PRO 163.90

1031 Sachithra Serasinghe Bradshaw PRO 159.93

1108 David Mather Kearsley NON 157.74

1020 Adnan Raees Daisy Hill PRO 156.84

1222 Stephen Hodgkinson Daisy Hill NON 144.72

1015 Brett Pelser Horwich PRO 141.86

1115 Imran Mirza Farnworth NON 138.56

1084 Raheel Majeed Heaton PRO 134.07

1128 Chris Barrow Farnworth SC NON 127.45

1104 Tahir Maqsood Walkden NON 126.66

1049 Fida Hussein Little Hulton PRO 122.01

1272 Joseph Speak Blackrod NON 119.93

1102 Jonathan Fowler Walkden NON 114.80

1055 Syd De Silva Astley Bridge PRO 112.40

1188 Oliver Newby Westhoughton NON 110.95

1118 Liam Bones Horwich NON 110.77

1210 Dominic Gavin Darcy Lever NON 104.20

1239 Shahid Mahboob Golborne NON 103.33

1122 Phil Ingram Horwich NON 97.70

1012 Devendra Bundela Kearsley PRO 97.03

1292 Jack Shovelton Adlington NON 93.39

1274 Matt Gallagher Atherton NON 92.74

1244 Curtis Anderton Little Lever NON 82.96

1163 Rob Holgate Lostock NON 82.77

1259 Yasir Rashid Astley Bridge NON 81.10

1237 Jake Waterworth Golborne NON 80.98

1130 Richard Dempster Farnworth SC NON 75.21

1258 Irfan Puda Astley Bridge NON 74.78

1294 Iain Critchley Adlington NON 73.47

1109 Cameron Murray Kearsley NON 70.45

1101 Will Shuttleworth Eagley NON 69.17

1125 Jake O'Byrne Farnworth SC WKT 68.96

1133 Tom Liversedge Bradshaw NON 68.09

1105 Syed Shah Walkden NON 67.40

1117 Danny Higham Farnworth NON 64.22

1273 Calum Barlow Atherton WKT 63.29

1119 Tom Billington Horwich NON 57.50

1241 Ciaran Vesey Golborne WKT 55.73

1257 David Cryer Astley Bridge NON 55.49

1253 Sajawal Khan Little Hulton NON 53.06

1113 Simon Booth Farnworth WKT 52.71

1219 Mark Wood Daisy Hill WKT 49.66

1116 Ross Sutton Farnworth NON 48.25

1135 Phil Dickinson Bradshaw NON 46.62

1203 Alex Radzoch Tonge NON 46.24

1097 Jack Wainman Eagley WKT 46.08

1189 Kieran Paisley Westhoughton WKT 44.35

1186 Danny Naylor Westhoughton NON 44.32

1187 Kieran Edwards Westhoughton NON 42.36

1111 Mark Burns Kearsley WKT 40.21

1136 Scott Howarth Bradshaw NON 40.06

1251 Suleman Muhammad Little Hulton NON 39.09

1106 Toby Morgan Walkden WKT 38.93

1127 David Tonge Farnworth SC NON 38.19

1100 Zaid Patel Eagley NON 36.74

1212 Nick Fawcett Darcy Lever WKT 36.67

1246 Ayaz Hanif Little Lever NON 36.39

1296 AJ Van Rensburg Adlington WKT 35.50

1103 Taylor Heyes Walkden NON 34.23

1134 Stuart Hornby Bradshaw NON 33.50

1183 Joe Gatenby Brown Heaton WKT 32.89

1276 Josh Gilluley Atherton NON 32.27

1179 Matt Fray Heaton NON 31.93

1026 Jake Scicluna Farnworth SC PRO 31.64

1208 Chris Fenn Darcy Lever NON 31.59

1110 Rick Hamblett Kearsley NON 31.21

1256 Matthew Hargraves Astley Bridge WKT 30.65

1132 Chris Evans Bradshaw WKT 30.48

1165 Tom Sheen Lostock NON 30.26

1221 Sam Pendlebury Daisy Hill NON 30.08

1207 Scott Burns Darcy Lever NON 29.68

1269 Zak Burton Blackrod WKT 29.56

1114 Nakash Qamar Farnworth NON 29.09

1204 Craig Naylor Tonge NON 28.09

1202 Connor Lord Tonge NON 27.57

1271 Joey Pryle Blackrod NON 26.91

1164 Nick Jeffs Lostock NON 23.98

1180 Oliver Sutcliffe Heaton NON 23.27

1181 Joe Ducker Heaton NON 20.95

1209 Jake Cooper Darcy Lever NON 20.89

1238 Lewis Clarke Golborne NON 20.81

1245 Adam Carter Little Lever WKT 19.61

1107 Grant Cordin Kearsley NON 18.56

1252 Waqar Khan Little Hulton NON 17.46

1254 Billy Schofield Little Hulton NON 16.84

1223 Michael Chilton Daisy Hill NON 15.71

1270 Mark Glover Blackrod NON 13.24

1243 Josh Gent Little Lever NON 12.67

1291 Simon Trim Adlington NON 12.25

1120 Dean Morris Horwich NON 11.42

1205 Iqbal Gulzar Tonge NON 10.05

1201 George Leather Tonge WKT 8.47

1162 Steve Hood Lostock WKT 7.45

1099 Jo Baldwin Eagley NON 7.02

1293 Ben King Adlington NON 7.02

1185 Rob Houghton Westhoughton NON 6.60

1268 Graeme Walsh Blackrod NON 5.54

1275 Scott Ryan Atherton NON 4.00

1098 Asif Bhojani Eagley NON 3.55

1247 Josh Hill Little Lever NON 1.93

1242 Jack Kidman Golborne NON 1.78

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Player Club

Sachithra Serasinghe Bradshaw

Tahir Maqsood Walkden

Ryan Ayres Farnworth SC

Matt Gallagher Atherton

Irfan Puda Astley Bridge

David Mather Kearsley

Dave Flanagan Lostock

Jack Shovelton Adlington

Ciaran Vesey Golborne

Dominic Gavin Darcy Lever

Stephen Hodgkinson Daisy Hill