STAND made it a weekend to remember as they moved off the bottom of the Central Lancashire League for the first time this season.

After last weekend's victory against Unsworth, a confident Stand side entertained Middleton on Saturday.

The home side won the toss and elected to bat. But, it was hard going to begin with.

However, Rick Watson and Martin Hegg built a good foundation for Stand , putting on 66 for the first wicket in the space of 33 overs.

The home side tried to increase the run rate but lost a series of wickets and progressed to 98-6 with five overs remaining.

Hegg was still at the crease and he reached his half-century as the innings closed on 131-7. Carl Sutcliffe weighed in with a quickfire 15.

In reply, the Middleton innings was delayed 30 minutes due to rain, but once play got underway Paul Deurden and Hegg both claimed early wickets to leave the visitors reeling at 19-2.

Hegg then set about ripping through the Middleton middle-order and removed the next six batsmen as the score progressed to 84-8.

Hegg was helped at the other end by some tight bowling from Sutcliffe and Mike Livesey; Livesey taking the ninth wicket to leave the score 89-9.

The final act was played out by Hegg as he bowled Tomlinson to earn a memorable and somewhat unexpected victory for Stand.

Hegg finished with match figures of 8-34, as only Mark Buckley put up any resistance with a run-a-ball 22. It was a true team effort, inspired by the professional's man-of-the-match performance.

On Sunday afternoon, an in-form Stand side made it three wins on the bounce as they travelled to Ashton with huge expectations.

Ashton won the toss and elected to bat first, making a fairly decent start before Hegg removed overseas amateur Thorpe (19) with the score on 31.

Hegg then removed professional Stuivenberg for 12 as the score moved to 53.

A fifth-wicket partnership between Selby and Ashraf thwarted Stand's inroads into the middle order, until man of the moment Hegg bowled Ashraf (29) with 131 on the board.

Selby then played his way to a well-deserved half-century, as Hegg contrived to take wickets at the opposite end.

Selby was then trapped in the final over by Sutcliffe for 62 as Hegg finished with 6-70 to take his weekend haul to 14-104 in 45 overs. The Ashton innings closed on 193-9, with Stand failing to claim all ten wickets.

In reply, Stand got off to a solid start as they progressed to 29-1 within seven overs, before Wright was harshly adjudged out leg before for eight.

Dave Jones and Dave Wass then took up the run chase and put Stand in a commanding position as the duo smashed the Ashton opening bowlers to all parts of the ground.

Wass was the first to come unstuck, however, as he was caught by Coles off the bowling of Thorpe for 41.

In the following over, Jones was also dismissed for a fine 44 as Stand slipped to 105-3 in 23 overs.

Hegg and David Taylor arrived at the crease but found it hard work to begin with and made slow progress before Taylor went for 11.

At this point, Stand required a further 64 for victory with 15 overs remaining.

Beirne added only four and Penchion managed 12 as Stand went into the final stages needing 38 runs from seven overs.

Paul Wilkinson came in and played a typical cameo, scoring 23 from 22, to leave Stand on the verge of victory.

Stand's man of the weekend fittingly hit the runs with a six over backward square leg as Stand made it three wins from three with 13 balls to spare. Hegg finished unbeaten on 34 as a terrific team effort saw Stand replaced by Unsworth at the foot of the table.