BURY were a club apart in the top two divisions of the Greater Manchester League last weekend as the other four representatives from the borough all lost.

As Karl Belston’s men were cantering to victories over Prestwich in the league and Edgworth in the cup, all of the area’s other front runners were falling to damaging defeats.

Woodbank were knocked off top spot in the Premier Division and dropped to fourth in the table as they fell 63 runs short at Denton St Lawrence.

The east Manchester side moved above them into third, while Bamford Fieldhouse took over as leaders and Flixton jumped into second.

Last year’s champions Egerton edged away from relegation trouble with a 10-run victory over second-bottom Walshaw.

Mahela Udawatte was their saviour, scoring 65 of Egerton’s 114 runs, with only one other batsman making it into double figures following an onslaught from Liam Riley (4-37).

Walshaw’s reply started off well enough as openers Jack McClung (34) and Saif Bhojani (18) guided them to 46 without loss before Lancashire spinner Matt Parkinson (4-24) orchestrated an alarming collapse.

It was a similar tale of woe in Division One, where an under-strength Greenmount side were ousted from top spot by new leaders Heywood.

Phil Heaton’s side lost by seven wickets as Heywood comfortably passed their total of 208-7, while a win for Flowery Field against Unsworth saw them move up to second, pushing Greenmount down to third place.

Jack O’Brien’s Unsworth side are third bottom following their seventh loss of the league campaign, and they are out of the First XI Cup as well after going down by three wickets in a valiant display at home to Premier side Denton West. There was a lot more to cheer, though, in the lower divisions.

Brooksbottom are second in the Second Division after seeing off Prestwich 2nd XI by 57 runs. Moshin Iqbal top scored with 35 in their 166 before Zohair Qureshi (4-28) and David Schierhout (4-25) shared eight wickets to dismiss them for 109.

There were also good wins for Elton, who are fifth, seven points off the top, and Edenfield, who are eighth but still not out of the title race.

Elton had a real shock though against strugglers Westleigh before winning by one run. Tom Booth (46) and Danny Lomax (34) did most to give the bowlers a total of 172-9 to defend and they did it, just. Westleigh needed two runs for victory from the final ball but Gareth Edwards (3-49) trapped last man Jonny Entwistle lbw.

In Division Three, Elton Vale moved top with a six-wicket win at home to Irlam.