Skipton CC celebrated their 150th anniversary in style by beating Woodhouse by seven wickets at Sandylands and in doing so achieving promotion back to Division B at the first attempt.

To make the occasion all the more special, their Tasmanian all-rounder Rob Dilger passed the 1,000 run mark for the season and is now within three runs of the best tally ever recorded by a Skipton player.

That stands at 1,005 and was set by Australian Colin Billett in the 1987 season.

Airedale & Wharfedale League statistics show that only 15 players have achieved the feat since 1949 and with two innings still to play, the Australian could climb well up the rankings if he gets to the crease.

He currently has 1,002 league runs and 1,065 in league and cup at an average of 71.6 in the league.

He also has 40 league and cup wickets at an average of 17.3.

Although Skipton won the toss and elected to field first at Sandylands, it was Woodhouse who took the early initiative.

The home side looked lacklustre and the two openers raced to 50 inside 13 overs before Zufur Iqbal got the breakthrough. This quickly became 59-2, but from then on, Skipton never quite seemed to get on top in the field as they have on so many previous occasions this season.

Although there were a couple of good catches taken in the deep by Iain Bell and Steve Carling, the rest of their fielding left quite a bit to be desired as the side conspired to put down six catches in total. Andrew Fergie was the chief victim, with four chances being put down off his bowling.

He bowled well in tandem with Martyn Windle, who finished with figures of 3-42 from 16 overs, Fergie ending with 3-77, and the pair ensured that the visitors never quite got away.

Most of the Woodhouse batting chipped in and many of the batsmen got starts, although none of them could carry it on and their total of 195-8, although useful, never quite looked enough for the powerful Skipton batting line-up.

Skipton suffered an early setback when they lost Kevin Owens early on, but the result was never in doubt.

Carling was joined by Dilger and the pair added 140 for the second wicket to put Skipton in control. Carling was in sublime form, timing the ball superbly as he purred along to 90, but with a century in sight, he got a bottom edge and was caught by wicket-keeper Acklam.

Although Carling finished with the highest total, the day belonged to Dilger. He was 63no when he crashed a four through point to move to 67 and bring up his 1,000th league run of the season.

A sizeable crowd applauded the milestone and the standing ovation that he received from his team-mates demonstrated what a remarkable feat he had accomplished.

He departed a couple of runs later, but by that point the game was won. It was left, once again, to Rob Walker and Martyn Windle to see the team to victory without any further alarms, which they did, Skipton cruising home with more than 10 overs to spare once more.

With promotion assured, Skipton can now concentrate on winning the league. A victory at Addingham tomorrow will see them crowned as champions, which would be just the way to wrap up the club's 150th anniversary year.