ANDY Thornton continued his unbeaten run to lead the BIG Smash League after four rounds of matches.

Thornton accounted for Simon Perry in his latest fixture at Dalton Cricket Club, leaving his vanquished opponent bottom of the pile.

Roy Moxham is only a single point back in second after a big victory against Liam Howard, which lifted him above his opponent – and briefly into first place before Thornton’s match.

Watched by more than 26,000 viewers online, Perry started well to lead 4-1 going into the first power end.

Thornton claimed that with a good single to move within a pont, before Perry moved out to 7-4 by taking points from three of the next four ends.

Two points from the power end for the leader made it 7-6, but it was level at 9-9 going into the 15th end.

Four points saw Thornton lead for the first time, and though Perry closed to 15-14 at one stage, it was the former who went on for a 17-14 success and three points to his opponent’s one.

Both Howard and Moxham were shooting for the top in their match, and the latter started well, going into a 4-0 lead.

It was a lead he built up steadily, going 8-1 and then 10-4 ahead, before a maximum at the fourth power end put him well in control at 14-4.

Howard started to dig deep, and won the next three ends to close to 14-7, before taking the third power end for 15-11.

Moxham took the next two ends to increase his lead to 18-11 and claimed two of the final three for a maximum four points from a 21-12 success.

Gareth Jones was another to take the full points, with an 18-10 triumph over Barry Lowden. Both players needed a win to get their seasons going if they are to threaten the top-four.

Jones started well, with three singles before Lowden stepped in and took the score to 3-2 heading into the first power end. Lowden took the points there and then another for a 5-3 advantage, before Jones stepped up a gear, taking six back-to-back ends with some sublime bowling for an 11-5 lead.

It was as good as game over from that point, and despite a brief Lowden rally, the matches ended 18-10 in Jones’ favour. Lowden had the chance to bounce back when he took on Perry, and did so superbly, with an 18-12 success and four points to send his opponent bottom.

As he had against Thornton, Perry started well to lead 6-1.

Lowden started to get himself back into the game with a double, before Perry took the following two ends to lead 8-3.

A single and a power end single closed the gap to 8-6 and it was all-square soon after. Perry led once more at 10-8, Lowden levelled and Perry took a power end single for 12-10.

Now Lowden found his game, winning the following ends for 14-12 going into the last, which he took four points from for the overall victory.

The organisers thanked the scoreboard operators and the measurers.

The next round of fixtures takes place on Thursday, starting at 6.30pm. Matches are as follows: Lowden v Rogers, Perry v Jones, Turnbull v Moxham, Thornton v Jones.