Posted July 8, 2006

 

Woodlands extended their lead at the top of Division One to 11 points as they gave another ruthless demonstration of their bowling strength to crush in-form Baildon by six wickets.

Pieter Swanepoel was the outstanding performer with six for 54, while Richard Pyrah took three for 30 as Baildon - who had scored 301 in each of their previous two games - were dismissed for just 108

Woodlands eased to their victory target for the loss of four wickets with former Baildon player Scott Richardson making 32.

Woodlands benefited from wrapping their match early. Second placed Pudsey Congs saw their match at East Bierley abandoned when they were well placed to secure a win.

East Bierley were 190 for seven in reply to Pudsey Congs' score of 276 for five when the rain forced play to be abandoned. Former Congs player Gavin Hamilton, the East Bierley skipper, was 65 not out at that point and would have been the biggest threat to Congs' hopes if the game had been completed.

Wicketkeeper Ryan Bradshaw (40) and Grant Soames (31) were the other main contributors for East Bierley while Michael Oldfield (3-57) was the best of the Congs bowlers.

Left hander Andrew Bairstow, a former east Bierley player, made a fine 84 for Congs, while Glenn Roberts (59no) and skipper Matthew Doidge (58) injected late impetus to swell the score to 276 for five.

Congs had to settle for ten points from the game and as a result have been overtaken by their neighbours Pudsey St Lawrence who took 20 points from an easy174-run win over Cleckheaton.

Mark Robertshaw (71), James Smith (69) and Mark Whitehead (54) hammered the Cleckheaton bowling as they helped their side to build an imposing total of 294 for eight. Former Lancashire paceman John Wood (4-75) was the pick of Cleckheaton's bowlers.

Cleckheaton's reply was disappointing. They were dismissed for 120 with Smith completing a fine all-round performance by taking five for 15 in 11 overs.

Idle's Sri Lankan star Dinusha Fernando also produced an outstanding all-round display. He blasted three six and 13 fours while making a rapid 98 against Keighley, then took three for 42 to help secure a 77-run win.

Fernando's batting lifted Idle from 81 for five to an eventual total of 229 for nine. Keighley never looked like matching that score and were restricted to 152 for nine as Greg Colehan 94-43) and Fernando went to work.

Hanging Heaton continued their climb up the table with a three-wicket win over Bradford & Bingley at Wagon Lane. Opener Zac Morris (67) continued his fine form while teenage all-rounder Farhan Khan blasted an unbeaten 56 as Hanging Heaton overhauled Bradford & Bingley's score of 159 for six.

Once again veteran opening bowler Richard McCarthy was the pick of the Bradford & Bingley bowlers with four for 33, but Bradford & Bingley didn't have a big enough total to defend.

Skipper Carl Sharp batted throughout the innings for 78 not out, but Bradford & Bingley were kept in check by some tight bowling. Sri Lankan Thilan Thushara took three for 58 for Hanging Heaton.

Brighouse's overseas player Rizwan Ahmed was their match-winner against Saltaire. He made 90 not out and took five for 47 as his side defeated Saltaire by 19 runs.

Haroon Rashid (72) shared a fourth-wicket stand of 137 with Ahmed while opener Mark Gilliver made 41.

Saltaire made a brave bid to go for the runs with Tabissum Bhatti making 81, but they were eventually all out for 223.

Farsley won the basement battle with Morley by 30 runs to ease their relegation worries. Opener Steve Simpson (50) and Alex Blakeborough (36) were the main contributors to farsley's total of 178 for nine. Morley skipper dave Nebard took four for 25 with his flighted off spin.

After an opening stand of 41 between Richard Haikings and David Goodlad, Morley collapsed. Five wickets fell for ten runs and despite some bold hitting by Shehzad Butt (41no) they were dismissed for 148. Jan Gadzina was the chief destroyer with five for 21.

The day's outstanding individual performance came in Division Two where Great Horton's Ziafat Ashraf became only the third player ever to make a Bradford League double century.

Ashraf struck 11 sixes and 20 fours in his 201 not out as Great Horton piled up 300 for one in their 156-run win over Lightcliffe. Talish Butt (52) gave Ashraf good support.

When Lightcliffe replied they were undone by the pace of overseas professional Rizwan Ahmed who took seven for 58 as they were dismissed for 144. Opener Rod Hinch (38) was the one batsman to resist for long as Great Horton halted their run of four successive defeats in some style.

Manningham Mills had their lead cut to a single point after they suffered a 72-run defeat at Yeadon while second-placed Bowling Old Lane defeated Windhill by two-wickets in a low-scoring encounter.

Yeadon's overseas star Aamer Sajjad his a six and 11 fours as he made a fine century to steer his side to a score of 262 for six. Skipper David Leather (43no) and James Todd (41) also made key contributions.

Mills faltered in reply with only their overseas batsman Afsar Nawaz (40) being able to dominate a bowling attack in which Steve Cobley took three for 49. Mills were dismissed for 190.

It all looked so easy for Old Lane when they dismissed bottom team Windhill for 86 with Zubair Najeeb taking four for 21 and overseas player Mohammad Hanif (3-12)

Old Lane soon knew different as Windhill's overseas Avanis Aware claimed six for 50 to have them reeling at 80 for eight before Raqib Younis (31no) steered his side home.

Undercliffe were thwarted by the rain. They were 185 for three with 13 overs to go in reply to Bankfoot's score of 228 for nine when play was abandoned.

Skipper Craig Hunt blazed 59 against his old club, while David Taylor (47no) and Ben Heritage (40) also impressed for Undercliffe.

Opener Michael Nicholson was the mainstay of the Baildon innings with a patient 66 .

Spen Victoria moved in to third place after defeating Hartshead Moor by 109 runs. Chris Elstub had an outstanding match making 78 and taking five for 48. Phil Carter (66) was the other main scorer for Spen Victoria as they made 250 for seven.

Hartshead Moor were dismissed for 141 with Ian Wardlaw top scoring with 42. Chris Hester (3-10) helped to wrap up Spen's first 20 point maximum.

Esholt topped the table three weeks ago now they are down to sixth after their ten run defeat by Gomersal. Skipper Rob Burton took six for 40 as Gomersal saw off a brave late assault from Ben Lister (74no) and Graham Austin (26) to win.

The match featured to outstanding last wicket partnerships. Joel Pollard (27no) and Craig Woodhead (26) put on 44 to swell Gomersal's score to 176 all out after Nadeem Hanif claimed four for 60.

Lister and Austin bettered that effort with an alliance of 64 which came close to earning an unlikely win for Esholt. They were finally parted with their side still ten runs behind on 166.