BRILLIANT Jon Fielding bowled reigning champions Ramsbottom clear at the top of the Lancashire League as he claimed another five-wicket haul to add to his impressive collection to sink Accrington.

The sides went into the Acre Bottom showdown sharing the lead – but Fielding put down a marker for his men in a thrilling encounter.

Tight bowling from Accrin-gton saw Ramsbottom reach 189-7 from their 50 overs with Alex Bell (41), Keith Webb (35) and Tom Parton (33) the main contributors as Accrington pro Ashar Zaidi claimed three wickets.

Zaidi, impressing in his first season in the Lancashire League, then took the game to Ramsbottom on his way to a century – but his knock was ended at 100 by Fielding, who had removed both openers, and when Michael Haslam returned to the attack he mopped up the Accrington tail.

His 4-31 and Fielding's 5-77 were outstanding figures as Accrington were 10 runs short.

Nelson finally got their season up and running as they won for the first time in 2011, beating East Lancashire by 25 runs at Alexandra Meadows in one of a number of a rain-affected clashes.

Stuart Lemon top scored with 33 and former Clitheroe captain Peter Dibb made 29 on his belated Lancashire League debut after a broken finger as the Seedhillites were solid with the bat, getting up to 196-9 from their 50 overs.

Home pro Ockert Erasmus bowled unchanged for 5-82 - but he couldn't make any impact with the bat along with the majority of his team-mates as East Lancs crumbled.

Chasing a target of 138 in 30 overs, only Mini Bhada made any real impact as he made 49 before being run out as wickets tumbled in the chase.

And with Luke Woodcock claiming three wickets and Khurram Nazir, who made a handy 28 with the bat, picking up 2-17 as East Lancs were 112 all out with 12 balls left.

Bacup pro Jon-Jon Smuts made 88 and Jack McGregor 51 as Bacup's excellent start to 2011 continued at Enfield.

Their effort helped David Warren's men to 198-8 at Dill Hall Lane - and then Andrew Spencer claimed 5-47 in a top spell with fine back-up from Joe Sipocz (2-5) and Smuts (2-47) as Enfield were 111 all out chasing a rain reduced 158.

New Todmorden skipper Andrew Sutcliffe claimed 5-17 in 9,.5 overs on his first day as captain as his side romped home at Colne.

Sutcliffe, who has replaced Simon Newbitt in the Centre Vale hotseat, was on fire as Colne were knocked over for 131 with home pro Mansoor Amjad hitting 28 on debut.

Nick Barker then made 54 not out as Todmorden dashed home.

Graham Knowles hit his first ton of the season as Haslingden won a thriller at Burnley.

The captain made 106 and Lee Ingham made 64 as Haslingden racked up 240-9 - but Burnley were in the mood for a chase to delight the fans.

New professional Imad Wasim, who earlier claimed four wickets, made 113 and Qasim Ali chipped in with 26 - but Burnley were up against it when Wasim was run out.

In the end Gary Sudworth claimed 5-68 and wrapped up the match by bowling Josh Whitehead with the final ball as Burnley needed six to win.

Lowerhouse are the league's form side with five wins on the spin after a contentious success over Church at a windswept West End.

Lowerhouse made 158-8 before a rain delay reduced the Church target but when a second interruption occurred the umpires and scorers could not agree on a revised target and while the debate continued, time ran out leaving Church stranded on 93-8.

Rishton claimed their first points of the season - but still lost for the sixth time as they went down at Rawtenstall.

Shaun Wyse made 73 and pro Cameron Delport hit 54 as Rishton made 199 all out with Keith Roscoe claiming 6-52 and Andrew Clough trousering four catches.

Josh Rushmore made 62 and sub pro Pervez Aziz hit 46 - but from being 145-3, Rawtenstall collapsed to 162-7.

Andy Riley, the day after his 30th birthday, made 20 but Rocky were in trouble again at 197-9 before Roscoe supported skipper Vinny Hanson as he hit his side home in a cracking finish.