COLNE Cricket Club remain top of the Thwaites East Lancashire Premier Bowling League this week, but their lead at the top was reduced to just one point.

They maintained their good run of form with a narrow 8-6 home win over Darwen Subs, Alan Handford winning 21-13 for the leaders. John Bentley won 21-10 for Subs, Great Harwood had a 14-0 home win over Nelson, Norman Hill and Tony Dobson both recording 21-8 wins.

Haslingden moved up the table after their 10-4 home win over Rishton Con, Mick Lambert won for the home side with Graham Roberts winning 21-12 for the visitors.

East Lancs had a narrow 8-6 home win over St Stephen's, Mick Lang winning 21-10. Brian Fish won 21-17 for St Stephen's. Greenhill had a 12-2 home win over Mortfield, Alan Marsden winning 21-5 and Brian Duncan winning 21-11 for Mortfield. Edgworth recorded a 10-4 home win over Globe, Mick Howard won 21-8 for Edgworth and Gordon Schofield won 21-5 for Globe. Turton had a 12-2 home win over Farington Con, Barry Hall winning 21-7 and Neil Haydock winning 21-8 for Farington.

Results: Colne Cricket 8, Darwen subs 6; Edgworth 10, Globe 4; Gt Harwood 14, Nelson 0; Turton 12, Farington Con 2; Haslingden 10, Rishton Con 4; Greenhill 12, Mortfield 2; East Lancs 8, St Stephen's 6.

Fixtures for Sunday (11am start): Globe v Colne Cricket; Mortfield v East Lancs; St Stephen's v Edgworth; Rishton Con v Gt Harwood; Farington Con v Greenhill; Darwen Subs v Haslingden; Nelson v Sunnybank; St Andrew's v Turton.

Merit competition: John Bentley (Darwen Subs) 121, Alan Handford (Colne Cricket) 118, Norman Hill (Gt Harwood) 109, Glyn Shuttleworth (Colne Cricket) 108, Paul Sutcliffe (East Lancs) 100, Tony Dobson (Gt Harwood) 91, Malcolm Wensley (Gt Harwood) 90, Simon Willcocks (St Andrews) 89, David Fryer (East Lancs) 88, Brian Duncan (Mortfield) 88.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.