LEIGH CC's first XI league game at St Helens Recs lasted just 2.1 overs before the rain closed in and called a halt for the afternoon.

This was the day after a rearranged National Cup game at Farnworth Social Circle had also been prematurely finished with the Bolton team ahead on run rate.

Leigh's 148 for 7 from 20 overs had looked a decent effort in the conditions with Graeme Thomason's 42, Sam Baldwin's 30 and Alex Roussak's 27 being the main contributors. Unfortunately loose bowling enabled the home batters to free their arms and as the game was called off with seven overs to go only 25 runs were required to reach the target.

On Sunday the 1st XI had the opportunity for immediate revenge as by a quirk of the draw Farnworth SC visited Leigh in the first round of the Lancashire Cup.

Batting first the visitors got off to a steady start and when captain Parkinson eventually got going, his unbeaten century saw his side to a massive 263 for 6 from 45 overs.

In reply Leigh's innings never really got going and despite a valiant 63 from Ish Beg and a late flourish of 21 from 15 balls from Tim McKiernan, the hosts fell well short of their target and lost convincingly by 170 runs.

Leigh's 2nd XI finally came across a team prepared to play positive cricket when Lytham came to town on Saturday.

Batting first the visitors innings was punctuated a number of times by the weather but great credit must go to the Lytham captain for making a game and giving the home team a very generous declaration which meant Leigh required 126 to win from only 22 overs. Ross Shepherd turned in his most consistent spell of the year so far to return figures of 3 for 22 from 10.2 overs.

It looked as though the declaration had badly backfired as Leigh romped to 66 off 9 overs before Graeme Thomason, 38, and Paul Jones, 29, were both out in quick succession.

Leigh then got becalmed facing the wily left arm spin of veteran Brian McGuirk whose three wickets put the home team well behind the clock and despite some desperate hitting late on they were unable to overhaul the target and fell five runs short.

The 3rd XI eventually overcame Orrell RT to progress in their Cup tie on Sunday.

In a low scoring game, Leigh's 111 all out was made with contributions in the twenty's from Paul Travis, on his return to his old stomping ground, Phil Edwards, Andy Howard and Graeme Thomason.

As the wicket steadily dried out, Leigh looked in big trouble as their hosts were 64 for 1 and apparently strolling to a surprise victory. Good fielding kept Leigh in the hunt and Tim Edwards, known more at present for his batting exploits in the 4th XI, proved to be the visitor's saviour with career best figures of 5 wickets for 25. Ably supported by Andy Thomason's 2 for 30, Leigh finally took the game by just 13 runs in a thrilling finale.