Richardson's ton keeps Woodlands on top

Posted: July 9, 2011

Division One

Opener Scott Richardson hit his second century in the last three matches as leaders Woodlands defeated Hanging Heaton by 137 runs to avenge an early season defeat.

The former Yorkshire batsman struck three sixes and nine fours in a superb innings of 107 which helped Woodlands to build a total of 293-4.

Richardson was joined in an opening stand of 119 by Sam Frankland (49) and then added 83 runs with Simon Mason (53) for the second wicket.

The real fireworks came when the big-hitting Sarfraz Ahmed smashed 52 off 27 balls with six sixes and eight fours as he dominated a partnership of 65 with Richardson.

Hanging Heaton never looked like challenging the Woodlands score as Pieter Swanepoel (3-34) and Richard Spittlehouse (3-34) exerted pressure on their batsmen. Mark Inwood (56) hit three sixes and seven fours before Hanging Heaton were dismissed for 156.

Second-placed Cleckheaton extended their winning run as they defeated bottom-of-the-table Gomersal by 57 runs.

The positive batting of skipper John Wood and James Lee has been key to Cleckheaton's recent success and they were in good form again as Cleckheaton posted a score of 264-6

Opener Wood made 93 from 78 balls with two sixes and 11 fours to get the innings off to a flying start and Lee provided the final flourish with a rapid 52 not out from 32 balls which contained three sixes and four fours. In between, Tim Jackson chipped in with 32 while left-arm spinner Ben Platt (3-90) was the pick of the Gomersal bowlers.

Gomersal looked to be heading for a heavy defeat when they slipped to 81-6, but Danny Lloyd (41) stemmed the tide before 16-year-old Jack Seddon smashed 63 from 55 balls to take the final total to a respectable 207-8. Seddon smashed five sixes and seven fours. The most successful Cleckheaton bowler was spinner Andrew Deegan (3-53).

Twenty-year-old Joe Greaves hit his second century of the season as Farsley defeated relegation-threatened Baildon by nine-wickets.

Greaves made an unbeaten 104 which was punctuated with a six and 18 fours as he shared in an unbroken second-wicket stand of 174 with his captain Ian Philliskirk who made 71 not out as Farsley romped past Baildon's 211 all out.

Such was the dominance of Greaves and Philliskirk that the league's leading runscorer Lorenzo Ingram didn't get to the wicket for the first time this season.

Ahsan Butt (50) and Simon Webb (36) were the top scorers for Baildon who seem trapped in the second relegation spot, 40 points behind the club immediately above them, Hanging Heaton. Seamer Chris Henry took 3-47 for Farsley.

The top three will all be looking uneasily over their shoulders at champions Pudsey Congs who are well renowned for putting together winning runs at just the right time.

They proved too good for fast-fading Bradford & Bingley as they ran out 41-run winners, Opener Mark Gill (75) and skipper Andrew Bairstow (45no) steered their side to 200-8, them paceman Muhammad Naved took 4-27 as Bradford & Bingley were bowled out for 159.

East Bierley survived some late fireworks from Pudsey St Lawrence's ninth wicket pair of Iain Priestley and Andy Parratt as they clung on for a six-run win.

Priestley and Parratt came together with their side in desperate trouble at 139-8 with 7.2 overs to spare, but they almost turned the game around as they shared an unbroken stand of 93 from just 44 balls.

Priestley hit six sixes and 11 fours as he raced to 95 from 57 balls, while Parratt made an unbeaten 24. St Lawrence needed 22 runs from the final over to snatch victory but could only manage 15.

Spinners Luke Jarvis (4-22) and Kez Ahmed (4-74) were the wicket takers for East Bierley who were relieved to hang on to bag 19 valuable points.

Openers Gavin Hamilton (78) and Gharib Razak (70) shared a partnership of 140 for East Bierley but only James Petty (43) of the remaining batsmen cashed in on their work as off spinner Chris Marsden took 4-57.

There was also a close finish at Scotchman Road where Undercliffe defeated Manningham Mills by nine runs.

Yorkshire paceman Moin Ashraf took 4-61 for Undercliffe but the most impressive bowling came from overseas professional Nawaz Sardar who took 3-22 in 14.5 overs.

Their bowling ensured that Gulsheraz Ahmed (80) and Zeeshan Qasim (33) couldn't conjure up a win for their side despite rescuing Mills from 67-5 in reply to Undercliffe's 204-8.

Sardar had a fine all round match. Earlier he made his side's top score of 60 and was well supported by Ammer Mirza (40) and Luke Holroyd (40) as they countered the threat posed by Mills' acting captain Imran Khalid (3-49) and Iqbal Khan (3-35).

Division Two

Leader Lightcliffe returned to winning ways with a four-wicket win over bottom team Windhill in a low-scoring match.

Spinner Chris Greenwood (5-12) and seamer Richard Tesseyman (4-24) joined forces to bowl out Windhill for just 70.

Lightcliffe looked in trouble when Chris Taylor and Alex Stead were both dismissed cheaply as their side plunged to 10-3, but Windhill were unable to build on their early success.

Lightcliffe lost three more wickets but reached their victory target after 25 overs.

Saltaire reduced Lightcliffe's lead to ten points as they defeated Hartshead Moor by 72 runs and collected a 20-point maximum.

Fahid Rehman (69) and Farhan Khan (68) shared a second-wicket stand of 116 which set Saltaire on course for a score of 232-6. Off spinner Jonathan Gould (4-50) emerged as Moor's most successful bowler.

Hartshead Moor lost three early wickets and never fully recovered as they were dismissed for 160. Martin Riley (31) was their top scorer while Azhar Sharif (3-24), Mansa Khan (3-38) and Ijaz Khan (3-39) ensured that Saltaire wrapped up another convincing win.

Sadqat Zaman took 5-62 as he bowled Great Horton to an 83-run win over Morley. He kept the batsmen under pressure as Morley collapsed to 113 in reply to Great Horton's 196.

Overseas player Suleman Khan led the way with another valuable innings of 70, while Mohammad Said chipped in with 36 in the face of some good spin bowling from former Great Horton all-rounder Kashif Naveed (5-73).

With Yeadon not playing, Bowling Old Lane seized their chance to climb into third place with a six-run win at Spen Victoria.

Spinner Mohammad Hanif was again a key figure in their success as he took 4-39 to help Old Lane bowl out Spen Victoria for 166 in reply to their 172 all out.

Mubtada Akhtar shared the limelight with Hanif after making a determined 60 which revived his side after the loss of early wickets to make a total of 172. Joel Pollard (3-42) was the main wickettaker for Spen.

Young batsman George Deegan continued his good form for Spen with a fighting inning of 55, but he lacked support and that proved crucial,

Spinner Harvey Anderson took 4-57 to help Bankfoot to awin b y five wickets against his former club Idle. Only Luke Heinemann (42) mastered the conditions as Idle were dismissed for 152.

John Barton (48) and Gary Wainwright (36) ensured that Bankfoot eased to their victory target despite the efforts of Sohail Hussain (3-24).

Keighley's Richard Robinson reached another milestone in his side's 77-run win over Brighouse.

When he reached 60 in his inning of 74 he became the first player ever to score 16,000 Bradford League runs.

Thanks to Robinson and his young opening partner Freddy Pearson (47), Keighley had a sound foundation to their innings, Together they put on 114 and their work was built on as Jonathan Wilkinson weighed in with 46 to swell the score to 227-6.

Brighouse laboured to 150-7 in reply with skipper Will Smith making an undefeated 47.

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