SATURDAY was a day for Paul Vallance to remember taking his best ever figures for Leigh, as Lytham were reduced to 109 all out.

It is always nice to see a player, who always gives 100% for the team, rewarded for his efforts, and Paul deserves his success. This left the task of knocking off just 110 runs for victory, which was achieved relatively comfortably, despite one or two wobbles along the way.

This was important insofar as it was, in effect, our first full league match (after last Saturday's rain affected match against Bootle), and to pick up 24 points early season is always nice and will hopefully give us momentum in our league campaign.

Sunday's victory over Bradshaw in the Lancashire Cup was down to a great all-round performance.

On a small ground with a fast outfield, I thought the bowling and fielding was excellent and at the end of their 45 overs I was delighted that we had kept them under 200. And so it proved, as we raced along to 160 before we lost our first wicket. I was pleased to return to some form myself with a half century but I had real mixed feelings for Steven Mullaney, delighted for a fantastic innings but disappointed that he fell just one short of a century. To come away with a commanding eight wicket victory should breed confidence amongst the players.

All in all, an excellent weekend.