LEIGH CC gained a double triumph on a highly successful weekend when they recorded their first league win of the season against Lytham followed by a resounding eight wicket victory against Bolton League side Bradshaw in the Thwaites Lancashire Knockout competition.

The win against Lytham was set up by a superb spell of seam bowling by Paul Vallance who came on first change and bowled unchanged for 18 overs to take 6 for 31. He was given excellent support by all the other Leigh bowlers as Lytham's batsmen were made to struggle for 54 overs while making 109 all out.

A slow but solid opening stand between Jack Kelliher and Daniel Thompson was broken when Thompson was smartly stumped by Cross off Vallance for 16. Kelliher was next to go, brilliantly snapped up at slip by Liam Zammit off the bowling of Davis, happily recovered from injury, for a determined 30 with the score on 48.

Lytham's captain New Zealander Warren McSkimming played some well timed shots in scoring 20 before he was trapped lbw by Vallance but only Knight (23) of the other visiting batsmen made any impression against the accurate Leigh bowling.

Zammit mopped up the tail end and finished with 3 for 30 off his 15 overs with Greg Jennings having again bowled well to concede only 11 runs off 9 overs. Gareth Cross took over the wicketkeeping responsibilities and was in top form as he claimed four stumpings.

Leigh were given a good start by some brilliant strokeplay by Steve Mullaney who scored 32 out of 43 for the first wicket off 38 balls. He was bowled taking one risk too many and the batsmen were then made to work hard for their runs against the lively duo of Marcus Sharp and McSkimming. Tim Rees, however, batted well again as he totalled 24 and Andy Batterley scored a defiant 17. It was left to Zammit to finish things off in typical fashion with 20 not out off 12 balls, including two sixes, to give the Beech Walk side a 5 wicket win. The pick of the Lytham bowlers was Sharp with 2 for 19 off 11 overs.

In perfect conditions at Bradshaw the home side opened up well with Kerr scoring 21 and Evans 27. Skipper Morris (42) and Newman (57) carried on the good work to put their side in the driving seat.

At 177 for 4 with 5 overs to go and Newman in full flow, Bradshaw looked set for a score well over 200 but they were pegged back by tight bowling from Vallance and good fielding. Brilliant run outs by Zammit and Cross helped to put a check on the scoring rate and keep the total down to 198 for 9 after 45 overs.

Leigh's success was never in doubt after a magnificent opening partnership of 163 between Mullaney and Dove who exposed the lack of variety of the home side's medium paced bowlers on a good wicket. Mullaney played a full array of high class shots as he scored 12 fours and 4 sixes before being unluckily caught behind just one run short of his century after facing 110 balls.

Dove was back to his best form as he worked his way elegantly to 55 before being second man out on the same score of 163. Rees (20no) and Cross (16no) rapidly took the score to 200 for 2 as Leigh romped home with 4.4 overs to spare.

Leigh now look forward with confidence to their next game at newly promoted Sefton Park.