WOODBANK captain Anthony Harris has tipped Walshaw for promotion despite guiding his side to a 16-run victory over their local rivals.

Walshaw were replaced at the top of Division One by Roe Green after falling to the second defeat of their Greater Manchester League campaign.

But Harris saw enough to believe Mikey Watt's men will finish in the top four and is confident Woodbank can join them.

"I still think Walshaw will go up," he said. "They are a strong team, especially their bowling attack."

Kendrick Hatton took 5-54, including the prized wicket of Woodbank pro John Whitehead, whose 85 ultimately proved to be the difference between the two sides.

Harris added 33 as part of a stand of 85 for the second wicket. Whitehead managed to stay at the crease for the majority of the Woodbank innings but eight of their order failed to make it into double figures and they were all out for 176.

Walshaw will have fancied their chances of completing the run chase, but Kieran Grundy had other ideas, taking 6-32, including three of their top four batsmen.

Hatton put up the main resistance, hitting 44 from 62 balls after coming in at number eight, but Grundy returned to bowl him in his second spell, ending the Walshaw innings with more than five overs remaining.

"Kieran blew their top order away," added Harris. "They couldn't handle his pace and when he came back for his second spell he was phenomenal.

"John has also been in good form, he gives us that solid base, while Gavin Nichol has been solid throughout the season.

"We had a bit of a dip after starting the campaign well, but Saturday was back to where we were at the start and if we keep performing like that we should be in with a shout of finishing in the top four, which was our aim at the start of the season."

The victory moved Woodbank back into the promotion places after matches involving their main rivals were rained off.

If they are to clinch a place in the elite, Woodbank and Walshaw could well be replacing Unsworth, who remain second bottom in the Premier Division after their match was abandoned without play.

Bury are fourth bottom after being edged out at second-placed Egerton, although they did pick up a batting bonus point.

They restricted the hosts to 166-5 in a match reduced to 30 overs. And while they were unable to chase down the target on a damp wicket, half centuries from opener Akil Greenidge (63) and Mohammed Jameel (51 not out) were enough to take something from the game as they finished on 132-4.

Greenmount fell to their fourth defeat of the campaign in agonising circumstances, losing by one run at Denton St Lawrence.

Mark Dillnutt and Matt Hawley both made 41 for the Denton side, but Greenmount bowled them out for 154, with wickets shared out evenly between the four bowlers, Danny Hornby (3-39) and Phil Heaton (3-29) both claiming three victims and Mark Stewart (2-43) and Darron Foy (2-37) both taking two each.

Ryan Senior (23), Jonathan Sammut (37) and Tom Heaton (22) were all unable to convert decent starts into a meaningful innings as Jordan Williams (4-39) spearheaded a DSL fightback.

And Nathan Keoh (2-16) dashed hopes of a Greenmount win, taking the wicket of last man Mark Stewart for a duck.

Brooksbottom put in the performance of the day lower down the leagues, moving into mid-table in Division Two with a 48-run win at home to lowly South West Manchester.

The club's two openers were late arriving after being stuck in traffic and captain Richard Ernill reluctantly chose to bat first on a green wicket after winning the toss.

Pro Luke Benaquista eventually arrived and hit 48, while Mo Iqbal Qureshi made 35 in Brooksbottom's 133-6 from 32 overs.

Qureshi took 5-23 while skipper Richard Ernill needed just four balls to polish off the tail and finish with figures of 3-0.

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Results and fixtures

RESULTS

Saturday

GMCL Premier Division: Denton West v Unsworth. Match abandoned.

Egerton 166-5 Bury 132-4. Egerton won by 34 runs (match reduced to 30 overs).

Flixton 67/9 Prestwich 155/9. Prestwich won by 88 runs.

Greenmount 153 Denton St Lawrence 154. Denton St Lawrence won by 1 run.

Division One: Elton v Roe Green. Match abandoned.

Walshaw 160 Woodbank 176. Woodbank won by 16 runs.

Division Two: Droylsden v Radcliffe. Match abandoned.

Edenfield v Westleigh. Match abandoned.

South West Manchester 85 Brooksbottom 133-6. Brooksbottom won by 48 runs.

Stand v Stretford. Match abandoned.

Division Four West: ELPM v 133 Walshaw 2nd XI 151. Walshaw 2nd XI won by 18 runs.

Elton Vale v Winton 2nd XI. Match abandoned.

Tottington St Johns v Elton 2nd XI. Match abandoned.

Lancashire League: Burnley v Ramsbottom. Match abandoned.

Sunday

Lancashire Knockout: Lowerhouse 135-7 Ramsbottom 133-8. Lowerhouse won by 3 wkts.

Bury 220-8 Clitheroe 167. Bury won by 53 runs.

Fixtures

Friday

Archway GMCL20 quarter-finals: Greenmount v Woodbank, Flixton v Unsworth, Edgworth v Heywood, Clifton v Denton St Lawrence (matches starts at 6pm).

Saturday

GMCL Premier Division: Bury v Flixton, Prestwich v Glossop, Unsworth v Greenmount.

Division One: Woodbank v Winton, Woodhouses v Walshaw, Worsley v Elton.

Division Two: Brooksbottom v Stand, Radcliffe v Thornham, Wythenshawe v Edenfield.

Division Four West: Egerton 2nd XI v Elton Vale, Whalley Range 2nd XI v Tottington St Johns, Winton 2nd XI v ELPM.

Lancashire League: Ramsbottom v East Lancs.