WALSHAW had a weekend of mixed fortunes despite scoring more than 400 runs.

Although they moved up to second place in the league they fell further points behind leaders Little Hulton.

On Saturday they enjoyed a fine victory over title rivals Spring View. They batted first and, spurred on by an unbeaten 88 from Rob Faulkner and 71 from Danny Hornby, they made an impressive 217 for 7.

In the reply Spring View were dismissed for 159 with professional Jon Fielding taking seven wickets.

It was a different story on Sunday when the Sycamore Road side were frustrated by Atherton after scoring 211 for 8 - with Tony Kelly (73) and Fielding (63) the main contributors. They were unable to bowl out their hosts and the game petered out into a tame draw with Atherton eventually reaching 150 for 6.

Meanwhile, it was consecutive wins for an impressive Elton side.

At Clifton, Elton made 177-8 thanks to a majestic 89 from professional Dextor Fitton. David Hamilton (4-39) was the pick of the home attack.

Hamilton then made a game of it with the bat as he dug in for 43 precious runs but his side couldn't quite reach their target with Peter Kay (4-41) and Mark Goddard (3-33) mainly responsible for Clifton's final score of 160 all out.

It was a similar story at home to Standish the following day as Steve Lomax (59) and Chris Read (20) had given the home side the perfect platform, to which Dextor Fitton took centre-stage with another quality innings of 69. A late Peter Kay cameo (30*) boosted the total to 191-6.

Standish never looked like threatening this target as Kay (2-28) and Fitton (4-35) completed twin wins for the weekend.