Rishton's  season could not have started any better with a shock victory over title-hopefuls Ramsbottom giving the team a much-needed boost after early-season postponements.

Skipper Jimmy Bibby has had to deal with the loss of some key players in the winter and the Ramsbottom victory in their first game of the season was a welcome tonic.

The Rishton skipper said: "We were expecting a relatively easier start to the season but due to the postponements we ended up starting at home to Ramsbottom.

"It doesn’t get much more difficult than that.

"It was a great start for us but unfortunately we couldn’t keep up the momentum against East Lancs on Monday.

"There are lessons to be learnt from the defeat and the young players in the team can only improve with results like this."

Professional Daniel Salpietro made a blistering start to his career at Rishton and the Australian is familiar with the conditions, having spent three years with Atherton.

"He’s settled really well and he’s been really positive about playing for us," Bibby said of his new paid man.

"He’s accepted we are a club in transition and I think he’ll be pivotal in the performances of the team this season.

"Everyone in the squad is really pleased with Daniel and they seem keen to learn from him."

Salpietro made a fantastic contribution to the victory over Ramsbottom, scoring 32 runs and taking eight wickets, and he followed that up with a further four wickets at East Lancs in Rishton’s 65-run loss.

Bibby has made comparisons with his team and the East Lancs team and expects the two to finish in similar league positions this season.

"I think, like us, they’ve lost a few players over winter and are also in a transition period, mixing young talent with a few experienced cricketers.

"Given where we were in winter with the loss of players, we would be really happy to finish mid-table and that would be a great achievement for our small squad.

"We’ve had relative success in the T20 competitions in recent years so we’ll look to that competition to do well, and we have as good a chance as anyone."

Bibby is happy with the mentality of his players and believes the win over Ramsbottom has given his team plenty to build on at this early stage of the season as they go into this weekend’s clashes at Nelson and then against early pacesetters Accrington on Sunday.

"The team spirit is really good at the moment," said the skipper. "Most of the players are from Rishton and that makes a difference as the lads all know each other well.

"It’s a small squad, so it’s not too difficult to raise team spirit, and I’m happy with the players we’ve got at the moment."

And Bibby is hoping they can get another win over this weekend’s double header with the opening-day fixtures replayed tomorrow.

"We play Nelson away who are very similar to us, so it will be a tight game and a challenge," he said.

"We also play Accrington soon and they will challenge for the title this season so I hope we can make home advantage count and get another big win under our belts."

Meanwhile, Accrington extended their unbeaten start to the season to three games, beating Rawtenstall by 67 runs before a 31-run derby win at Church left them top of the table.

Pro Ashar Zaidi took eight wickets over the weekend – with five coming against Rawtenstall – and top-scored in the derby win over Church with 45.

Graham Lloyd’s return of 66 runs made him top scorer in the win over Rawtenstall.

CHURCH started the weekend with a 112-run win at Bacup before their derby defeat to Accrington.

Muhammad Jamil and Saeed Anwar took four wickets each, with Lloyd Aspin top-scoring with 80 runs against Bacup.

Jamil then took his weekend wicket tally to seven with a further three against Accrington and openeer Levi Wolfenden played through the innings finishing on 55.

Enfield's weekend started with an 84-run win over Nelson before a heavy nine-wicket home defeat to Todmorden on Monday.

Pro Werner Coetsee top-scored with an impressive 127 in their victory over Nelson, with four-wickets apiece for Coetsee and Joe Wrigley.

The home defeat saw Hassan Fazal top-score with 24 runs, with Coetsee taking the only wicket bringing his total to five for the weekend.