BURY sides are sitting pretty in the Greater Manchester League with Woodbank, Greenmount, Brooksbottom, Elton Vale and Tottington St John riding high at the top or in second place of their respective divisions.

Woodbank remain at the summit of the Premier Division after seeing off second-placed side Clifton on their home wicket on Saturday.

The hosts failed to chase down a reduced target in a match affected by rain after Anthony Harris’ men had finished on 216-7.

Opener Gavin Nichol (54) and Ryan Barker (57 not out) both made half-centuries to help set an imposing target.

And while Duckworth-Lewis came into play after the weather worsened, Clifton’s 114-9 was never going to be enough to challenge Woodbank, for whom Barker took 4-17.

Elsewhere in the top-tier, Walshaw followed up their opening win of the campaign the previous weekend with a nine-wicket victory at Glossop.

Shabnan Ali and Dylan Blignaut both took four wickets as Glossop were dismissed for 116 and Saif Bhojani’s unbeaten 73 helped Walshaw breeze past their target.

Bury were unable to haul themselves off the bottom of the table and make it a clean sweep of victories for local sides in the Premier as they went down by eight wickets at home to Denton St Lawrence.

Spare a thought for Alex Breckin, though, after his 84 not out lit up the home side’s otherwise dismal batting display in their total of 138.

Tom Heaton’s 93 for Greenmount was overshadowed somewhat by an exhilarating 175 not out for in-form pro Kaustub Pawar.

Greenmount were 1-1 when the pair came together after Saad Khan’s duck and they put on 240 for the second wicket before Heaton fell seven short of his century.

Pawar carried on bludgeoning the Stretford attack, hitting 29 boundaries, including 10 sixes, as he racked up his huge ton in just 139 balls.

The rain put Stretford out of their misery somewhat as they toiled to put a dent in Greenmount’s 295-4, but fell short of their revised target after finishing on 211-8, thanks in part to 5-55 from Cameron Smith.

The win maintained Greenmount’s 100-per-cent start to the Division One season and stretched their lead at the top of the table to five points.

Unsworth, meanwhile, are fourth bottom after losing a rain-affected match at home to Denton.

Keegan Taylor hit 72 as Denton made 243 and while Andries Gous (55) hit a half century, Unsworth’s 138-9 was not enough to reach their revised target.

Brooksbottom’s fantastic start to the Division Two campaign continued with a 32-run win at strugglers Hindley St Peters on Saturday.

Paul Hopton played through the pain after suffering a badly bruised thumb to score a patient 58 in Brooksbottom’s 227 all out. His efforts at the crease were supported by 46 from Will Sutton and a quick-fire 43 from Curwin McCarthy.

The home side were going great guns in their reply, but collapsed from 130-1 to 194 all out.

It was Brook’s slow bowlers who did the damage, with Dave Barrington Brown and pro Dave Schierhout taking four wickets apiece. Their fifth win of the season helped Brooksbottom keep pace with leaders Astley and Tyldesley, while Elton and Edenfield also enjoyed good wins.

Adam Stansfield’s 90 laid the foundations for Elton’s 147-run victory at Swinton Moorside.

Half-centuries for Anwar Ul Haq and Mike Hall powered them to 261-4 and the home side never got close as they were bowled out for 114.

Edenfield, meanwhile, picked up their fourth win of the season after chasing down a revised target at Thornham.

Pro Wade Van Zyl guided them home with 55 not out, with support from Josh Walker, who hit 44 in 34 balls.

Elsewhere, Elton Vale moved up to second in Division Three with a one-wicket win against Clifton seconds, while Tottington St Johns beat Woodbank seconds by 10 wickets to go top of Division Four West.