JCT 600 Bradford League Monday review May 12, 2008

by David Markham


Safraz Ahmed	Tabbi Bhatti

Anyone who wants to win the JCT 600 Bradford League First Division title must first beat the reigning champions.

That was the message from the First Division's top match between Woodlands and one of the teams that are bidding to wrest the crown from their grasp. Baildon went to Woodlands as leaders after winning their first two matches, but they went down by six runs after an classic game that ebbed and flowed during nearly seven hours of absorbing cricket. Woodlands' dominance in the league during the last three years is due to their mean attack spearheaded by Safraz Ahmed.

At a time when some clubs are questioning the value of overseas players - three First Division clubs, East Bierley, Baildon and Pudsey St Lawrence are doing without an overseas player this season - Safraz continues to make an immense contribution to Woodlands' success with bat as well as ball.

He joined Woodlands for their first season in the Bradford League in 2001, leading them to a Second Division championship triumph with 80 wickets and has continued to be one of their main players as they have come to dominate the league.

Even when he is not taking wickets, Safraz is a mean, economical bowler, conceding very few runs. All this imposes pressure on the batsmen and his bowling partners often reap the benefit as rash strokes lead to wickets, when batsmen take liberties to push on the scoring rate.

He is also a ferocious hitter and he has often played important innings to rescue his side when earlier batsmen have failed. Woodlands were in trouble at various times in their innings - at 95 for five and 144 for seven before Safraz played a crucial and characteristically explosive innings of 44 to help Woodlands to 199, which proved to be just too many for Baildon.

Earlier, opener Scott Richardson had held the innings together with 44 against his former club supported by Nicky Rushworth (24). Then Adam Goldthorpe with 37 and Safraz saw the champions through to what proved to be a winning total although they missed out on a fourth batting point by one run.

Slow left armer Mushtaq Ahmed was Baildon's most successful bowler with five for 35 in his 15 overs. Baildon's openers Simon Davies and Johnny Reynolds made a careful start against a depleted Woodlands attack missing Tosh Baker and left arm spinner Chris Brice, who is expected to return to the side in two weeks after recovering from a knee operation.

Baildon's best chance of winning came during a third wicket stand of 88 between Tabassum Bhatti (56) and Ahsan Butt (45), but they always struggled to lift the scoring rate to what it needed to be and Baildon lost three wickets for 15 going for quick runs.

They were left needing an improbable 23 to win off the final over bowled by Richard Spittlehouse and what a dramatic over it turned out to be. Wicketkeeper Matthew Duce raised their hopes by hitting Spittlehouse for six off the first two deliveries and a straight drive off the third ball was also destined for the boundary until it hit umpire Dennis Halliday in the side of the face at the bowler's end. The official, who was badly shaken, was helped from the field.

Duce holed out to Adam Goldthorpe in the deep the next ball and Simon Webb was out to a similar stroke next ball to give Goldthorpe his fourth catch and Spittlehouse his third wicket before Mushtaq Ahmed smashed the last ball for four to deny Spittlehouse a hat-trick and leave Baildon on 193 for seven - six runs short.

Baildon's defeat cost them their unbeaten record and the leadership of the division. They have slipped to fourth place, four points behind the three remaining unbeaten clubs, leaders East Bierley (50) with Bingley second on 48 and Woodlands third on 46.

East Bierley claimed top spot after their third win in a row - a 103-run triumph at promoted Yeadon, who have started their first season back in the top flight with three successive defeats.New signing,

Yorkshire wicketkeeper batsman Greg Wood scored his maiden Bradford League century, making 107 as Bierley totaled 223 for six. Wood hit three sixes and seven fours as he shared a fourth wicket stand of 147 with former England and Yorkshire all-rounder, skipper Gavin Hamilton.

Bierley then dismissed Yeadon for 120 with left arm spinner Luke Jarvis taking five wickets for nine runs and paceman Kez Ahmed three for 30.Wood is bucking the trend in that Yorkshire players, who are not required by the Academy side, tend to play in the ECB Yorkshire League as part of what appears to be the county's policy.

Yorkshire players Andrew Gale (Cleckheaton) and Richard Pyrah (Woodlands) have both moved from the Bradford League to Yorkshire League club Driffield in the last two years apparently to fit into this policy so the presence of the talented Wood in the Bradford League is a welcome development.

Like Bierley and Woodlands, Bradford & Bingley have also won their first three matches and occupy second place after an eight wicket win at Cleckheaton. There is little doubt Bingley owe their exalted position to their bowling attack.

Bingley, who were in danger of being relegated at various stages in second half of last season, have bowled out Bowling Old Lane for 44, Yeadon for 49 and Cleckheaton for 54 as they conceded a mere 147 in their first three league wins. Richard McCarthy, who took 12 wickets in their first matches was not fit to bowl at Cleckheaton, where the wickets were shared between overseas player Amila Ranga and skipper Phil Slater, who took three wickets, Will Briggs and Chris Thompson two each.

It looks like being a difficult season for Brighouse, who are already seven points adrift at the bottom of the table after gaining a miserly three points from their first three matches. Brighouse, who avoided relegation by only two points last season, lost most of their best players and look ill equipped for the top flight in the Bradford League.

Their latest defeat was a 159-run thrashing by newly promoted Esholt, who had beaten them in the Priestley Cup first round five days earlier. There were some, who were prepared to write off Esholt after they were dismissed for 55 at Hanging Heaton on the opening day of the season, but they gained a surprise win at Pudsey Congs before beating Brighouse twice in a week.

Opener Mark Cummins hit a six and ten fours in an unbeaten 115 while new signing Gulsheraz Ahmed made 49 as Esholt posted a formidable 251 for three. Despite an unbeaten 62 from Faisal Butt, Brighouse were bowled out for 92 with Ahmed taking three for 19 and Shahzaib Khan three for 41.

What is wrong with Pudsey St Lawrence? They have lost their first three matches, gaining a mere 12 points and crucially no batting points after being bowled out for 101 at East Bierley, 105 at Baildon and 96 in their 125-run home defeat against Manningham Mills. Batting has always been St Lawrence's strength so what is wrong by the underachieving side from Tofts Road?

Close season recruits from Bowling Old Lane, Amjid Khan with 46 not out and Wajjid Hussain, 41, were top scorers in Mills' total of 221 while Alex Stead with three for 15 and Stuart Kirk three for 36 were St Lawrence's main wicket takers. Khan then completed a fine all-round performance by taking five for 12 as St Lawrence finished hopelessly short.

There was relief at the other end of Pudsey as the Congs gained their first win at the expense of Bowling Old Lane. After restricting Old Lane to 122 with pace man Tom Glover taking four for 13 in 13 overs, Congs recovered from losing their first two wickets for seven runs to win by five wickets.

Opener Alexis Twigg was top scorer with 45 while Babar Butt made 24.In the other First Division match, Hanging Heaton returned to winning ways by beating Saltaire in Roberts Park by four wickets with seven balls to spare. Chris Schofield (4-9), Imran Arif (3-44) and Rizwan Ahmed (3-31) shared the wickets as Saltaire were bowled out for 138.

Hanging Heaton also found run scoring difficult, but Schofield with 34 and James Stansfield 34 not out saw them home. Tim Linley took four for 45.Gomersal, who just missed out on promotion last season, must surely be among the favourites to go up this time because of the sheer weight of runs in their side.

It helps to have two First Division class batsmen in Richard Gould and Bradley Parker at the top of the order while overseas player Kashif Naveed is also making a valuable contribution. Gould, who was leading runs scorer in the Second Division last season, scored an unbeaten 174 in Gomersal's total of 317 for four at home to Morley and shared an opening stand of 150 with Northumberland and former Yorkshire batsman Bradley Parker, who made 70.

Gomersal totaled 317 for four and, although Morley made a strong challenge, they finished 43 runs short on 274 for six thanks to opener Danny Lloyd (74), Adam Larkin (53) and Michael Davies (50) in a match that produced 591 runs. This win means Gomersal stay top with a five point lead over second-placed Idle, who beat Keighley at home by six wickets.

Idle, who were relegated last season, have made a good start in their bid to return to the top flight at the first attempt with three wins out of three. Mohammed Rasool took five for 18 as Keighley were bowled out for 141 before skipper Danny Shuffe led Idle to a six wicket victory with 48 not out.

The other relegated side, Farsley lost their first match of the season, going down by 26 runs in a high scoring match at Undercliffe and give the home side their first win of the season. Skipper James Clarke with 92 not out and Andrew Duckworth (61) and James Hawley (50) enabled them to reach 250 for four. Ashley Metcalfe made 59 as Farsley made a strong reply, but they were pegged back by overseas player Nawaz Sardar who took five for 60 and were all out for 224.Windhill moved into third place after winning their second match of the season with a seven run success at Great Horton.

Their overseas player Ammar Mahmood made 50 in Windhill's total of 180 and then took four for 13.Bankfoot recorded their first win of the season, South African Gareth Van Hoesslin (76 not out) and Simon Curry (58 not out) leading them to a nine victory at Spen Victoria with an unbroken second wicket stand of 126.

Skipper Richard Nichols scored an unbeaten 52 in Lightcliffe's five wicket win at Hartshead Moor