BACUP professional Adam Dale believes his team have struck upon the kind of winning formula which could lead the club to their first Lancashire League title in 40 years.

The Aussie Test bowler is starting to turn in the kind of match-winning performances everyone anticipated before his eagerly-awaited arrival at the start of the season.

And, with amateurs like James Cunliffe also beginning to click into gear, Bacup's widely predicted title challenge is gathering momentum.

"Whoever plays the best as a team will win the championship," said Dale.

"Just because you have a player who chips in with a 100 wickets and a thousand runs won't guarantee you anything.

"It's all about working together as a unit and I thought we did that brilliantly against Colne last week.

"Ben Johnson batted superbly for them but our fielding was excellent and I got great support from the other bowlers.

"Then, when we batted, we really needed someone to take charge and that's what James did.

"So now we've proved we can live with the best, we need to take that forward. I still think this league is wide open.

"We have not come across one outstanding side so far and everyone looks capable of beating each other.

"If we want to win it then we've got to play some great cricket between now and the end of the season.

"But I believe we are capable of doing that. "The guys are working really hard and their attitude and endeavour to succeed is spot on."

At present, Bacup are currently seventh in the table and a whopping 26 points behind leaders Colne.

But after toppling the league-leaders last week thanks to Dale's seven-wicket haul, it has raised the expectation levels at Lanehead.

And the visit of third-placed Ramsbottom tomorrow provides a further opportunity to close the gap on the leading pack.

"The last thing we want to do is get too concerned with what will happen at the end of the season," said Dale.

"We've got to take it week by week, game by game and, provided we approach things right, then the results should look after themselves.

"But I think in the last two or three weeks we have really started to enjoy our cricket.

"Earlier on in the season, we were probably putting too much pressure on ourselves to do well."

As for Dale, himself, figures of 7-61 against Colne provided further evidence that he is now acclimatising to life in the Lancashire League. And the Queenslander insists he has not changed his game too radically in order to adapt to the conditions.

"Whatever conditions you play in, you just try to adapt as best you can," said Dale.

"But I've not really tried to change too much about my game at all.

"The last thing you want to do is go home with different habits so you've just got to react to the situation on the day.

"So I don't think I necessarily need to bowl any differently to the way I do back home."

Tomorrow's fixtures: Accrington v Enfield, Bacup v Ramsbottom, Haslingden v Rawtenstall, Lowerhouse v Burnley, Nelson v Colne, Rishton v Church, Todmorden v East Lancs.