DARCY Lever celebrated their Bolton League Second XI Premiership win in style last weekend as they coasted to a comfortable seven-wicket victory against rock-bottom Adlington at The Levers.

The visitors elected to bat first and were indebted to a determined innings from Andrew Chamberlain, who made 53 of his side’s final total of 111-8 in a reduced allocation of 42 overs as only one other batter reached double figures.

Toseef Hanif then raced to an unbeaten 67 off just 51 balls, including five sixes, to secure the win inside 18 overs.

Horwich RMI and Heaton finished 10 points behind Darcy tied in second place in an incredibly tight division with just one win – six points – separating second from seventh.

Heaton finished their programme with a six-wicket win at home to Kearsley, where they chased down a target of 118 in just 16 overs.

Kearsley were in deep trouble at 46-5 before Jack and Chris Pellowe, with 35 and 25 respectively, got the total to a more respectable 117 all out as Marcus Haslam took 4-15 and Robin Isted 3-19.

Heaton lost three quick wickets but Jacob Whittaker (63) and Tom McGivern (37 not out) raced to the target.

RMI, meanwhile, travelled to Westhoughton and came away with the points after an exciting nine-run success at St Georges Oval.

Batting first, they built a respectable total of 166-8 after a good team effort led by Jack Ramsden (48no), Max Adamson (32) and David Hunt (26) as both Chris Leyland and TJ Pindoria collected three wickets for Westhoughton.

Jamie McAndrew, with 56, led the run chase, but with only two other batsmen in double figures the home side finished agonisingly short on 158-9 with Keiren Barlow taking 4-29 for RMI.

Lostock’s hopes of a top-two finish were blown away by a superb spell of bowling from Zaid Patel who demolished the home batting with figures of 11.5-3-22-8 with none of the home batsmen passing six.

A paltry total of just 38 all out was never really going to trouble Bradshaw and, despite losing two wickets without a run on the board, they raced to an eight-wicket win, with Luke Needham making 24no.

As a result, the home side dropped down to seventh in the final table.

Farnworth Social Circle had similar aspirations to Lostock but they too were thwarted as Astley Bridge edged them out in another low-scoring game at Sharples Park.

Chasing just 78 to win, Bridge found themselves 11-4 before Jamie Cooper (33) took them to 41-5 and then Mehr Khan, with 32no, got them over the line with four wickets to spare.

Circle’s innings had followed a similar pattern, slipping to 29-5 before Pat Hayhurst (27) and Andy Brooks helped them stagger up to 77 all out.

Mehr Khan and Paresh Patail, with four wickets each, did the damage with the ball for Bridge.

Consistent batting right down the order helped Farnworth celebrate lifting the Association Division title with a win, although Daisy Hill pushed them a lot harder than they may have expected.

No fewer than eight batsmen reached double figures, led by 41 from Michael Daley and Victor Walcott, who hit 26 to help Farnworth post 207 as Daisy used 10 bowlers – Chris Charters with 3-20 being the pick of them.

Adam Arkwright headed the run chase with an excellent 90 off just 79 balls, but with only Charters, who added 22 to his earlier wickets, providing much support they were eventually all out for 175, Simon Harrison taking 4-27 and Muhammed Khan 3-13.

Second-placed Golborne had a disastrous day at Walkden where they were skittled out for just 38 by the home side for whom Harry Morgan took 4-15, Oliver Gaskell 3-18 and George McManus 3-4 as only one batsman managed as many as eight.

Morgan then helped Steve Edwards knock off the required runs in just 31 balls to secure an emphatic 10-wicket win.

There was a thrilling game at the Old Vicarage where Blackrod edged out Little Hulton by the narrow margin of two wickets as they chased down their target of 148.

Blackrod were in some trouble at 32-4 before Matt Westhead (47) and Chris Readey (33) got together and added 82 to set up the win.

Neil Jarvis and Ian Lee both took three wickets for the home team but they could not quite force the win.

Little Hulton’s 147-9 had been built around a fine 77 from Ashley Perry, but with only two other double-figure scores they could not push on to a higher total as Tony Tipping took 5-31 and Tom Keegan 3-26.

Little Lever claimed third place after securing a 66-run win against Atherton at Victory Road.

Chasing 167 to win, Atherton collapsed to 48-6 and never really recovered despite a defiant 38 from Brad Eckersley finishing on 92 all out with Don Heyes taking 4-26 and Jo Rushton 4-32.

Heyes had also led the way with the bat, making 59 of their total of 158 all out with four other batsmen chipping in with double-figure scores.

Eckersley too enjoyed a good all-round day as he took 4-38, well supported by 3-12 from David Baines.

Tonge moved up to fifth after defeating visitors Eagley by 31 runs in a relatively low-scoring game at Castle Hill.

Tonge went in first and scrambled to 102 all out with six players reaching double figures, but none pushing on past 20 as Oliver Tuck (3-18) and Tom Mitchell (3-31) bowled well for the visitors.

Eagley did not find batting any easier as Danny Holt claimed 5-40 and William Cook 4-3 to hustle them out for 71 in reply with just three batsmen scraping into double figures.

The season ends with Darcy Lever champions of the Premiership and Adlington relegated.

Farnworth and Golborne are promoted from the Association, while Horwich RMI claimed the Birtwistle Cup and Astley Bridge won the Stafford Trophy.