CAPTAIN Jimmy Walsh-Hill admitted his delight at Darcy Lever’s low-scoring victory over Eagley after urging his players to rid themselves of their early-season inconsistency.

Going into Saturday, Darcy had won three of nine matches.

But Walsh-Hill is determined to finish 2018 in style after leading their successful chase of 105 with 61 not out to secure win number four.

It was also their second on the spin having beaten Adlington last month before the fortnight-long Peter Stafford Trophy break.

He said: “Going into the halfway stage, I said to the lads ‘We’ve had a mixed season so far, but I don't just want it to fade away’.

“We might not push for promotion, but we can still be up there finishing fourth or fifth.

“We knew playing Eagley was a good opportunity to start the second half of the season on the right note.

“We had four general first-teamers missing, so we knew it would be tough. But we bowled and fielded really well and then struggled over the line with the bat.”

After Darcy won the toss, Shaukat Patel (4-29 from 16 overs) led the way with the new ball, while professional Dominic Gavin claimed two wickets and first change Aasif Afinwala three. In Eagley’s 104, pro Kasun Adikari’s 43 stood out.

In reply, Walsh-Hill, in at three, saw his side slip to 86-7, but his 89-ball knock steadied nerves.

“I’m having a decent season. I don't know where it’s come from, but it’s long overdue,” he said.

“We’re a better bowling team. One of our top six has got to come off every week. If they don’t, we struggle.

“There’s a game we still talk about earlier in the season when we bowled Little Lever out for 90 and ended up about 12 short.

“I knew at tea on Saturday even though we’d bowled them out for 104, it wouldn’t be easy.

“It’s a monkey on the back - a psychological block. I don’t know why because we’re not a young side. Hopefully we may have turned a corner.”

Walsh-Hill continued: “Our only paid player, Shaukat Patel, is probably the best bowler in the division (29 league wickets at 13 apiece).

“We haven't got a big budget. I’d imagine we pay out the least in the Bolton League.

“We try and invest in facilities and stuff like that.

“Our pro is Dominic Gavin, who has been at Darcy all his life apart from two years at Monton, is brilliant. He’s a top club man. He runs a couple of the junior sides.

“We’re in a very good place as a club.

“Facilities wise, we’ve improved over the last couple of years. We’ve got an electronic scoreboard, an artificial net facility, roller covers. They’re what we spend money on.

“If we ended up paying more players and got promoted, we would struggle. That’s not to say we don’t want to try and go up, but we want to do it organically.

“We’re trying to build the junior section because we’re not a particularly young first team. We all came through the juniors together, and who knows how many of us will retire in the next three or four years.”