Newton le Willows beat Leigh by 13 runs to ensure that there will be a First Division team in this year's Littlewoods Gaming Knockout Trophy final (at either Liverpool or Newton le Willows) as they now travel to Liverpool in the semi final.
Newton's Ian Walkden chose to bat as they reached 209-8 from their 45 overs. SS Das (57) and Danny Barlow (64) added 79 for the third wicket. Mike Walkden added 34 with Steven Mullaney taking 3-27 and Liam Zammit 2-21 in his last game for Leigh before returning to his native Australia.
Mullaney (58) and Andy Batterley (31) opened with 73 and it was at 102 that they lost their second wicket. Things then went wrong, wickets tumbled and they ended on 196-9. Gareth Cross was 38 with Barlow taking 4-30 and SS Das 2-33. Thus ended any hope of staging a second successive final in September.
Regarded by many as underdogs in the other third round tie at Wadham Road, Wigan very nearly came away as winners against Bootle. Winning the toss, Wigan posted 178-8 from their 45 overs. Bootle needed two runs from the last ball to be bowled by Steve Casham with the last pair at the wicket. Graeme Jones duly scored the runs and set Bootle up for a semi final tie at Northern after finishing on 179-9.
