To cap a perfect weekend they also won against Oxton on Sunday to see them through to the final of the League Cup, in which they meet Nantwich at Macclesfield on 13 September.

An astonishing league run sees them on the verge of a memorable championship win.

Winning the toss on Saturday, Steve Bramhall elected to bat and Nathan Wood (18) and Anthony Crozier gave Bowdon a sound start with 41 for the first wicket.

Neil Cross was next in and he and Crozier put on 73 for the second wicket in even time, but when the in-form Paul Gould joined Cross the run rate really accelerated and it took Bowdon past the 200 mark in the 48th over, securing the maximum of 10 batting points.

Cross was eventually caught for 81, after which a few wickets were lost in a run chase before Bramhall declared at 235 for 6 wickets after 55 overs.

Although Toft lost an early wicket their score progessed steadily to 91 for 2 by the 27th over, at which point they were shaping up for a surprise victory over the League leaders.

But left-arm spinner Dominic Ball had other ideas and his lethal spell of 4 for 16 in 5 overs left the Toft innings in tatters.

Teenagers Matt Bradshaw now rejoined the attack and by taking 3 for 3 in 23 deliveries he polished off the tail to leave Toft all out for 126 in the 49th of the 55 overs available.

The last 8 wickets had fallen for 35 runs in just over an hour as Bowdon demonstrated yet again why they are now such a hot tip to take this year's League title.

The 25 points pocketed at Toft leave Bowdon needing just 6 points from their last two matches to secure the 2000 Championship.

At South Downs Road on Sunday, Bowdon proved too strong for visitors Oxton who were beaten by 101 runs, with 5 overs to spare, in the League Knock-out Cup Semi-Final. In their 45 overs Bowdon hammered 210 for 9.

Oxton took a long time to recover from the shock of losing both openers with only 4 runs on the board and when 5 wickets fell for 7 runs in the middle of their innings there was no way back for them into the match.

Bowdon are brimming with confidence and the League/Cup double is now well within their grasp.

They should secure the first of these prizes on Saturday when they play the league's next-to-bottom side Alsager at South Downs Road.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.