GENLEC Leigh's cup double ambitions ended is disappointment as they lost the Chelmere Cup Final by eight wickets to a star-studded Bootle side.

The Merseysiders have now won the cup for a record five consecutive years and were generally in control throughout Sunday's showpiece.

Having bagged the Premiership Cup the previous weekend, Leigh went into the game at full strength and high in confidence.

Unfortunately the early loss of Andy Batterley did nothing to calm the nerves, although Chris Hall and Dave Dove set about giving the home side a platform and put on 35 in 11 overs.

Chris Finnigan came back to strike twice on 44, removing Hall in the deep and Steve Bailey without scoring.

Rotating their Aussie and two Chesire quicks, Bootle made scoring difficult but Michael Day did have some success in keeping the scoreboard ticking and made 23 before being the fourth victim at 84 halfway through the innings.

Although four wickets had gone, the game was still in the balance although Bootle were probably more content with the situation than Leigh.

The pendulum did, however, start to swing towards last year's champions over the next 40 minutes as only 27 came off eight overs for the loss of Andy Mullaney and Rob Clews, both cheaply.

With 12 overs to go and Leigh 109-6 there was a real possibility that the home side would commit the cardinal sin of being bowled out without completing their full allocation of overs.

However, while all this had been going on Dove had patiently held up one end with a combination of sensible defence and good shot selection. Leigh skipper Tim McKiernan joined the former skipper and together they set about trying to post a competitive score.

The two managed to put together an undefeated partnership off the remaining overs, enabling Leigh to finish on 176-6, setting Bootle a victory target of just under four an over.

Dove's backbone of an innings of 83 came of 123 balls and included eight fours. McKiernan finished on 20 not out.

In reply Mike Holden struck early to remove the dangerous Jon Bean without troubling the scorer. And when his opening partner, Tommy Reilly, fell to Day with the score on 42, the home side sensed an upset was still on the cards.

But that wicket proved to be the last success of the day as the Cheshire pair of Iain Cockbain and Richard Hignett together put on a chanceless partnership of 135 to steer Bootle to victory with six overs to spare. Cockbain finished with 79 and man of the match Hignett with 61.