Posted: May 11,2008

Richard Gould completes his 50 against Morley

The sun shone for the first time this season and the batsmen came to the fore with some sparkling performances on a day of absorbing cricket in the JCT 600 Bradford League.

Pride of place went to Gomersal's experienced opening batsman Richard Gould who made an unbeaten 174 in his side's high-scoring encounter with Morley which they won by 43 runs.

There were also maiden Bradford League centuries for East Bierley's Yorkshire wicketkeeper/batsman Greg Wood who made 107 as his side defeated Yeadon by103 runs to go top of Division One and Esholt's Mark Cummins who hit 115 not out to set up a 159-run win over Brighouse.

With leaders Baildon losing by six runs in a thriller at Woodlands, East Bierley took the opportunity to take a two point lead at the top with their third straight victory. Left hander Wood hit three sixes and seven fours as he and skipper Gavin Hamilton (66) shared a fourth-wicket partnership of 147 which helped East Bierley to post a score of 223-6.

Yeadon, who have had a miserable start to their return to the top flight, were dismissed for 120 as they registered a third successive defeat. Left arm spinner Luke Jarvis (5-9) and Kez Ahmed (3-30) were the chief wicket takers.

Bradford & Bingley are second after they made it three wins out of three with a crushing eight wicket success against hapless Cleckheaton. The home side were skittled out for 54 as Will Briggs took three for 22 and skipper Phil Slater (3-4). Richard McCarthy, who took 12 wickets in the opening two games, didn't even bowl a ball.

Champions Woodlands were given a real scare by Baildon before extending their unbeaten JCT 600 Bradford League record to 31 matches. Woodlands made 199 with opener Scott Richardson (44), big-hitting Safraz Ahmed (44) and Adam Goldthorpe (37) making the main contributions. Left arm spinner Mushtaq Ahmed bowled impressively to return figures of five for 34.

Baildon's reply was dominated by a third-wicket stand of 88 between Tabbi Bhatti (56) and Ahsan Butt (45). They gave their side hope but they just fell agonisingly short of their victory target despite some last over heroics from Matthew Duce.

He smashed the first two balls from Richard Spittlehouse for six and a searing straight drive from the third had boundary written all over it until it smacked into the side of umpire Dennis Halliday's face at the bowlers end. The visibly shaken official was helped from the field and Woodlands'injured spinner Chris Brice stood at square leg for the final three balls. Duce holed out in the deep next ball, a feat repeated by Simon Webb from the following delivery. Mushtaq Ahmed smashed the final ball for four but the victory was Woodlands'.

Hanging Heaton returned to winning ways after their defeat by East Bierley. They beat Saltaire by four wickets with just seven balls to spare.

Saltaire were left to rue a disappointing batting display which saw them fail to take advantage of the early work of openers Javed Umarji (33) and Wasim Munawar (29). Chris Schofield (4-9), spinner Rizwan Ahmed (3-31) and former Saltaire paceman Imran Arif (3-44) did the damage.

Hanging Heaton also found runscoring difficult against the fine bowling of Tim Linley (4-45). They had to rely on some gritty batting from Schofield (34no) and James Stansfield (34) to see them home.

It looks like being a long hard season for Brighouse. They are rooted to the bottom of the table after being thrashed by newly-promoted Esholt.

Opener Mark Cummins continued his good start to the campaign by hitting a six and ten fours in an unbeaten innings of 115. With Gulsheraz Ahmed making 49, Esholt were able to compile an impressive 251-3. Despite an unbeaten 62 from Faisal Butt, Brighouse were skittled out for a paltry 92 as Ahmed took three for 19 and Shahzaib Khan (3-41).

Pudsey Congs are finally off the mark. Their first win was a comfortable five-wicket success against Bowling Old Lane. Paceman Tom Glover took four for 13 and left arm spinner Glenn Roberts (3-28) as Old Lane crumbled to 122 all out. Despite suffering a couple of setbacks, Congs eased home with opener Alexis Twigg making 45.

The misery continues for Pudsey St Lawrence who suffered their third straight defeat at home to Manningham Mills. Once again the St Lawrence batting misfired and they were dismissed for a paltry 96 in reply to a Mills score of 221.

Amjid Khan (46no) and Wajjid Hussain (41), both winter recruits from Bowling Old Lane, top scored for Mills against a bowling attack in which Alex Stead (3-15) and Stuart Kirk (3-36) were the most successful members. Khan went on to complete a fine individual performance by taking five for 12 as St Lawrence crumbled.

There were runs galore in the Division Two match between Gomersal and Morley - 591 to be exact - as the home side strengthened their hold on top spot with a 43-run success.

The cornerstone of Gomersal's impressive 317-4 was a stunning innings of 174 not out by Richard Gould, The man who was top scorer in Division Two last season, struck five sixes and 21 fours. He shared in a first wicket partnership of 150 with former Yorkshire player Bradley Parker who made a rapid 70. The Morley bowlers came in for some heavy punishment and nobody suffered more than opening bowler Nathan Bromby whose 15 overs cost him 127 runs.

Morley made a spirited response thanks to opener Danny Lloyd (74), Adam Larkin (53) and Michael Davies (50). They finished on 274-6. Overseas player Kashif Naveed took three for 47 for Gomersal.

Mohammad Rasool picked up five for 18 as he helped second-placed Idle to a third straight win. They defeated keighley by six wickets after dismissing them for 141. Skipper Dan Shuffe led Idle's reply with an unbeaten 48.

Undercliffe recorded their first win when they defeated Farsley by 26 runs. Skipper James Clarke (92no), Andrew Duckworth (61) and James Hawley, who hit 50 off 22 balls, steered Undercliffe to a total of 250-4. Farsley who won both their previous games, fell short in their bid to overhaul Undercliffe's score. Former Yorkshire batsman Ashley Metcalfe made 59, Will Kitchen (36) and Harveyt Anderson (33). Overseas player Nawaz Sardar caught the eye with five for 60.

Windhill's new overses pl;ayer Ammar Mahmood is making a big impression. He made 50 and took four for 13 to help his side to a seven-run win at Great Horton. The home side were dismissed for 173 in reply to Windhill's 180.

Lightcliffe skipper Richard Nichols continued his good early season form by making an unbeaten 52 to seal his side's five wicket win at Hartshead Moor. The home team had been restricted to 134-9 despite a battling 44 from Mattew Evans.

Bankfoot's South African wicketkeeper/batsman Garetn Van-Hoesslin made an unbeaten 76 and shared an unbroken second wicket stand of 126 with Simon Curry (58no) as Bankfoot crushed Spen Victoria by nine wickets. Spen struggled to make 149-9 in the face of good bowling from Andy Stothart (3-42) and Andy Deegan (3-36).