St Lawrence toppled as Bradford & Bingley go top

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Division One

Pudsey St Lawrence suffered an emphatic ten wicket defeat at East Bierley and dropped from first to third place.

Bradford & Bingley now lead the way after their four-wicket win over fading Undercliffe while Woodlands are second after beating champions Baildon by 36 runs.

Just 34 points separate leaders Bradford & Bingley and seventh-placed Pudsey Congs - a statistic which illustrates just how tightly contested the battle for the Division One crown is.

The scale of St Lawrence's defeat - a result which meant they didn't pick up a single point - was the biggest surprise of the day.

Their batting line-up - normally so productive for them - melted away as they were dismissed for just 119 by an East Bierley side which holds fourth place and is having a growing influence on the fight for the championship.

Nobody enjoyed East Bierley's success more than their skipper Paul Hutchison. The former Yorkshire left-armer took five for 39 against the club he cut his Bradford League teeth with.

Hutchison was well supported by overseas paceman Muhammad Azharullah (3-49) as St Lawrence crumbled.

When East Bierley replied their openers Gharib Razak (53no) and Gavin Hamilton (50no) tore into the ineffective St Lawrence bowling and guided their side to victory in 18.4 overs with an unbroken stand of 122.

Bradford & Bingley seized their chance to take over at the summit for the first time this season by inflicting a fourth successive defeat on one-time leaders Undercliffe.

The former Baildon duo of Simon Davies (62) and skipper Phil Slater (43) steadied their side's nerves after the loss of two early wickets and set them on course to overhaul Undercliffe's total of 187-6.

The target appeared likely to be a lot smaller until Undercliffe wicketkeeper Luke Holroyd launched another of his late onslaughts. He made an unbeaten 72 from 58 balls, hitting six sixes and three fours.

Opener Sam Frankland hit an unbeaten 104 as Woodlands, chasing a fifth title in six seasons - beat Baildon. Frankland hit three sixes and 11 fours as he helped his side post the day's highest Division One score of 212-5.

Frankland shared in an opening stand of 72 with Scott Richardson (32), but the innings looked to be losing momentum until big-hitting Sarfraz Ahmed (31) joined Frankland in a fifth-wicket stand of 59 which produced a much-needed acceleration to the scoring rate after spinner Mushtaq Ahmed (3-37) had produced a tight spell of bowling.

Baildon made 176-7 in reply with Simon Webb making an unbeaten 62, but they never threatened to snatch the game from Woodlands' grasp as Chris Brice took four for 37 and Richard Spittlehouse (3-49).

Cleckheaton moved above Undercliffe into fifth place after beating Saltaire by 34 runs

The Walmsley twins played key roles in their side's latest success. Marcus top scored with 62 in Cleckheaton's total of 176-9, then Edward took four for 27 as he and fellow slow bowler Mark Cummins (3-37) combined to help dismiss the home side for 142.

Waleed Akhtar (40) and Tim Jackson (30) were Saltaire's top scorers, but the outstanding performance for the Roberts Park club came from their skipper Ijaz Khan who took six for 42 with his off breaks.

Pudsey Congs in seventh place may yet have a say in determining the destiny of the championship. They bounced back from last week's disappointing defeat by East Bierley to defeat Gomersal by five wickets.

Opener Gareth Phillips made 64 as Congs successfully chased a Gomersal total of 186-7 with 8.1 overs to spare despite the efforts of off spinner Adam Greenwood (4-37).

The Gomersal score had owed much to the continued good form of opener Richard Gould (59) and overseas batsman Shahzaib Khan (31).

An unbroken second-wicket stand of 172 between Yorkshire's James Lee (84no) and Bradley Kruger (83no) powered Farsley to a nine-wicket win over Yeadon - a result which leaves the home side marooned in the relegation zone. Both batsmen hit a six and 13 fours as Yeadon's bowlers were put to the sword. Farsley passed Yeadon's total of 182-9 with 16.1 overs to spare.

For Yeadon the only performances to give them comfort were the batting efforts of Damon Gormley (46) and skipper Grant Soames (39). Robert Thornton impressed for Farsley and was rewarded with figures of six for 41,

Division Two

Hanging Heaton continued their relentless push for an immediate return to Division One with a crushing nine-wicket win over Manningham Mills who were relegated with them last season

Mills were skittled out for a paltry 85 as leg spinner Mark Lawson (3-6), and John Carruthers (3-33) did the damage. Hanging Heaton romped to victory in 13.5 overs with Rob McFarlane making an unbeaten 47.

Former Yorkshire and Derbyshire batsman Chris Taylor hit his fourth league century of the season and his sixth in all competitions as Lightcliffe returned to winning ways after two defeats with a 112-run win over strugglers Idle.

Taylor has now scored 902 runs this season and with six games left is well placed to top the 1,000 run mark.

Thanks to Taylor and his brother Matthew (43no), Lightcliffe reached 190-4 before bowling out Idle for 78 with Josh Wheatley producing the day's best bowling performance of seven for 28. Only Luke Heinemann (38) offered any prolonged resistance for Idle.

Keighley put a dent in third-placed Bowling Old Lane's promotion hopes as they defeated them by 47 runs. A tenacious innings of 35 from Imran Patel helped Keighley to make 153. Run scoring wasn't easy as Khurrum Maqsood (4-30) kept things tight, but Old Lane found the going even tougher when they batted.

Paul Quinlan (3-40) and Ross Towler (3-47) were the pick of the bowlers as Old Lane were bowled out for 106.

Fourth-placed Hartshead Moor closed to within a point of Old Lane as they defeated Brighouse by 21 runs. Joel Pollard (3-10), Simon North (3-19) and Danny Squire (3-42) bowled well as Brighouse - despite the efforts of Sohail Khan (73) and Matty Senior (41) were dismissed for 148 in reply to Hartshead Moor's score of 169-8. Graham Hilton (32) and Liam Evans (31no) were the main contributors.

Morley dismissed Windhill for just 92 as they secured a six-wicket win. James Russell (4-20) and skipper Dave Nebard (3-22) were the men who did the damage. Morley eased to victory with wicketkeeper Michael Cooper making an unbeaten 31.

An unbroken third-wicket stand of 118 between Tosh Baker (64no) and Will Smith (52no) helped Spen Victoria to secure an eight-wicket win over bottom team Great Horton.

Smith had a fine all-round match. Earlier he took three for 22 as he and Robert Warriner (4-28) helped bowl out Great Horton - without a win in 16 games - for 128.