Sovereign Health Care Priestley Cup first round 2008

Posted: Monday, May 5, 2008
Updated: Thursday. May 8, 2008
update: Sunday, May 11, 2008

Pudsey Congs appeal for lbw against Pudsey St Lawrence opener Alex Stead

East Bierley had JCT 600 Bradford League officials hurriedly thumbing through the record books as they scored a massive 459-3 against shell-shocked Spen Vicctoria in their delayed first round tie.

Their research showed that East Bierley had fallen short by 29 runs of the all-time cup record score of 488 by Saltaire, but that mark was set in 1930 before innings were restricted for 50 overs.

Therefore, officals believe that East Bierley's scores is the highest since the competion became a 50 overs a side contest.

East Bierley made their intentions clear from the first over which yielded 17 runs. After that it was utter carnage as the Spen bowlers were flayed to all parts of the ground.

Openers Lee Goddard (56) and Gharib Razak (32), two former Spen players, set the tone before Greg Wood (155) and Andrew Rennison (120no) set about the bowling in savage fashion.

Wood reached his first 50 off 28 balls and went on to make 155 from just 86 balls - his second century of the weekend. He smashed six sixes and 19 fours. Rennison was equally severe on the, bowling striking five sixes and nine fours. Another former Spen player, Chris Elstub, rubbed salt in their wounds with an unbeaten 62.

When Spen replied they started brighly but were eventually dismissed for 174 in 38 overs with overseas batsman Naeemuddin Qazi top scoring with 50. Dan Abbott was the most successful bowler with four for 36.

Yeadon may have lost their opening three league games but they found their form to defeat Hanging Heaton by 93 runs. The man who inspired their success was overseas batsman Aamir Sajjad with a powerful innings of 115. Thanks to him Yeadon posted a score of 248-8 before bowling out Hanging Heaton for 155. Har0on Rashid (52) and brother Amar (41) looked to be batting Hanging Heaton into a good position before they collapsed against the left arm spin of Andrew Robertson to be 155 all out.

More misery was heaped on Pudsey St Lawrence as they suffered an eight-wicket defeat against holders Pudsey Congsd - their fourth successive defeat of the campaign.

Once again St Lawrence failed to make enough runs. Nottinghamshire all-rounder Gareth Clough (46) and skipper James Smith (35) briefly threatened to take command after Congs' new overseas player Mohammad Naved had reduced the Saints to 18-3, but once they departed the rest of the brittle batting line up crumbled predictably. Naved was the pick of the bowlers with three for 42.

St Lawrence gaioned an early bonus in the Congs innings when Smith trapped Scott Cunningham lbw for five, but it proved to be justr a temporary setback for the home side. Opener Alexis Twigg and Andrew Bourke fashioned out a second-wicket stand of 91 before Bourke was caught at slip by Iain Priestley in Alex Stead's first over for 38.

Twigg was growing in confidence and took charge as he and Andrew Bairstow (36no) saw Congs home without further loss for an eight wicket win. They put on 78 with Twigg finishing unbeaten on 97 - a superb innings which secured an away tie against Yeadon in round two.

Bowling Old Lane scored a thrilling two-wicket win over Gomersal by two wicket when their delayed Sovereign Health Care Priestley Cup first round tie was completed on Thursday night.

The 2006 beaten finalists looked at trouble at the end of Wednesday night's play when they were 30-4 in reply to Gomersal's score of 170 all out which was swollen by a staggering 46 extras. But Old Lane roared back to triumph thanks to Mohammad Hanif (44) and Rashid Ramzan (40).

They countered the menace of Nasser Hussain (4-40) and Rob Burton (2-36) to secure their place in Saturday's second round draw which will be made during the tea interval at the Division One game between Woodlands and Baildon.

Mohammad Zaman produced a sparkling all-round performance to enable last season's beaten Sovereign Health Care Priestley Cup finalists Cleckheaton to secure a four-wicket win in their tricky first round tie at Bankfoot.

Zaman took three for 25 in his ten ov ers as Bankfoot were restricted to 121-8 on a a slow pitch which made runscoring difficult. Micky Hutchins (33) was the one Bankfoot batsman to make an impression. The home side weren't helped by the fact that two of their players - named on the official team sheet on Sunday - were unable to play.

When Cleckheaton batted they suffered two early blows as Yorkshire Academy fast bowler James Lee removed overseas player Louis Aspelling and Ian Nicholson to catches by South African wicketkeeper Garreth Von Hoesslin with the total on 18.

Despite the fact that none of his colleagues reached double figures, Zaman dominated the bowling as he struck two sixes and 11 fours in a superb innings.

Bradford & Bingley opener Carl Sharp crowned his 39th birthday celebrations by making 74 as he helped his side to a five-wicket win at Undercliffe. Skipper Phil Slater (29), and Chris Thompson (26no) also chipped in with valuable runs as Bradford & Bingley overhauled the Undercliffe score of 191-6 with 10.2 overs to spare. Spinner Sam Brookes was the best Undercliffe bowler with four for 42.

Undercliffe, who have now lost their first three matches of the season, built their score around a fine knock of 84 from opener Mark Gilliver. He hit two sixes and eight fours.

Carl Sharp

There was a thrilling finish at Windhill where Farsley triumphed by seven wickets with ten balls to spare. Opener Shabbir Rashid struck a six and nine fours in a fine innings of 89, while former Yorkshire player Ashley Metcalfe completed the job of steering his side home with an unbeaten 49. He shared in an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 54 with skipper David Syers (24no).

Metcalfe had earlier taken four for 36 with his off spin to peg back Windhill after they had looked like posting an even more imposing total than the 229-9 they finished with. Opener neil Johnson made 73 and Mohammad Altaf (50). They put on 96 for the third wicket and caused Farsley a few anxious moments.

The victory was Farsley's third in succession and maintained heir excellent start to the season. Idle, who were relegated from Division One with Farsley last season, also notched up their third win.

Idle were the day's quickest winners. Swing bowler Andy Marshall took six for 18 as Lightcliffe were skittled out for 46. Idle eased to their target in 17.3 overs.

Great Horton reached the quarter-finals last season and they showed their liking for the cup again as they scored a two-wicket win at keighley. Suleman Khan made 52 as they eased past the Keighley score of 160 with four balls to spare. Paul Quinlan (4-28) was the pick of the Keighley bowlers.

Earlier Ijaz Ahmed (5-15) and Ziafat Ashraf (4-32) had bowled well to peg back Keighley after some good batting from Max Davidson (54) and Richard Robinson (42)Q

Esholt crowned a good weekend by securing a seven-wicket win at Brighouse in a match which was marred by an injury to the home side's opening bowler Matthew Senior. He fell when bowling the fourth ball of the second over and suffered a suspected broken foot.

Opener Paul Cummins made an unbeaten 60 as Esholt eased past the Brighouse score of 123 all out. Gary Garner was the pick of the Brighouse batsmen with a knock of 54 which contained four sixes and three fours.

The remaining four ties were all abandoned for the second successive day. Bowling Old Lane and Gomersal are expected to start their tie on Tuesday night while the East Bierley v Spen Victoria, Pudsey Congs v Pudsey St Lawrence and Yeadon v Hanging Heaton ties will be played on Sunday.