WHAT could be described as the Bolton Association's two most under-achieving teams met on Saturday when Atherton played Clifton at Higham Park.

Whereas the visitors looked most likely to win, it was the home side that came out with most credit from a drawn game that netted them 14 points.

On Sunday they went one better when they added a further 20 points from a well won, low scoring game at Standish.

On Saturday, for the second match in succession, Atherton were again asked to bat on a rain-affected track.

Openers Karl Brown and Paul McLoughlin found batting difficult against the bowling of Steve Holt and pro Lee Wolstenholme and at the end of the 10 th over just 11 runs were on the board.

Following over

McLoughlin was caught in the following over which brought in Philip West to join youngster Brown. Both applied themselves to the situation and the runs began to slowly accumulate. West took 24 balls to get off the mark while Brown had just three singles to show for 48 balls faced but he was batting beautifully, timing the ball superbly. A square cut boundary off Holt in the 28th over was the shot of the match.

He was coping with the wiles of Wolstenhome with a maturity the belied his tender years.

When the partnership had reached 81 in the 36th over West was caught for 29. Next in, Philip Wakefield found an easing surface and began to build on the hard work of Brown and West. When Brown was lbw for 59 in the 39th over he had almost single-handedly pushed his side to the unlikely respectability of 160-6 at the end of the 48 overs. Wakefield finished unbeaten on 39.

The Clifton reply got underway in much improved conditions and openers Mike Gardner and Anthony Giffiths set about the bowling of Nuttall and pro Mihir Diwakar. The 50 came up in the 12th over when Griffiths was run out for 31 following an excellent throw from Paul Walsh. David Hamilton joined Gardner and they took the score to 90 by the 28th over.

With the pace of Nuttall and Diwakar and the leg spin of Walsh proving ineffective, skipper Paul Brown introduced himself and David Baines into the attack with their medium pace putting a stranglehold on the innings.

The runs dried up and wickets started to fall. With overs running out and faced with a rising run rate, panic set in and there were three run outs in the last two overs.

While the visitors fell three runs short of victory, one further wicket would have won it for Atherton.

The Higham Park sides two most senior players Paul Brown and David Baines, took 2-45 and 3-33 respectively while a further feature for Atherton was Philip Williamson's excellent wicket-keeping.

Sunday saw skipper Brown calling correctly and with another damp wicket in prospect, he had no hesitation in putting Standish in.

Diwakar claimed the first wicket when he had opposing pro Chris Humphries adjudged lbw for nine. The second wicket fell to Nuttall who clean bowled skipper Steve Knowles who, along with David Chadwick, had put together 32. He had the further satisfaction of sending back Chadwick the same way when the score had reached 62.

Nuttall was in the picture again when he took a brilliant slip catch to dismiss Simon Maiden off the bowling of Baines.

The fifth wicket fell to Nuttall who trapped Andy Hill lbw and after Baines had taken a second wicket, Diwakar was brought back to mop up the last four wickets and the innings for 103.

The Atherton pro finished with 5-42 while Nuttall returned 3-41 and Baines 2-12.

The Atherton reply began with Karl Brown and Diwakar. It was an experiment that didn't last long as Diwakar was beaten third ball by a quick one from Knowles that removed his off bail.

West joined Brown and the pair soon realised that the pursuit of a comparatively small total would be no easy task. Both battled away until Brown got one that stopped on him and he was caught for 13.

Wakefield was next in but lasted only nine balls before being bowled by Knowles without scoring. Paul Walsh offered support to West, facing 37 balls for just six. When he was caught with the total on 56, it was left to regular opener Paul McLoughlin to steady the ship. With West he guided Atherton home. McLoughlin finished on 16 not out with West undefeated on 62.

West's innings was a master class of batting under pressure in difficult conditions and against accurate and hostile bowling.

This week Atherton have a double header at Higham Park, facing Golborne in the league on Saturday and Lostock in the second round of the Cross Cup on Sunday.