Skipton CC put last week's Airedale & Wharfedale defeat well and truly behind them when they completed a 10-wicket rout of Upper Wharfedale on Saturday.

In sweltering conditions, Wharfedale won the toss and elected to bat, but lost opener Andrew Foulds to Robert Dilger's very first ball of the match.

This set the tone for the afternoon's proceedings as Wharfedale struggled to cope with the Skipton attack.

Jason Agars was next to go, well caught by Steve Carling at first slip, and he was followed by Kevin Holme, who was dismissed by a sharp reflex catch by Iain Bell at short leg.

Leigh Barrett was offering some resistance, but when he fell to a top-edged pull, Wharfedale were in deep trouble on 31-4.

At this point Skipton's fielding became decidedly sloppy and they managed to put down four chances during the course of the innings which let Wharfedale off the hook.

James Hastings-Trew attempted to salvage something from the innings, but he fell to Martyn Windle for 23 and, although the lower order tried to dig in, wickets fell at regular intervals from then on.

Continued from Back Page

The home side limped to 117 all out, with Dilger being the destroyer-in-chief, finishing with the excellent figures 5-17 from 14 overs.

Such a target was never going to be enough, although Skipton were impressive in making light work of the target.

Openers Kevin Owens and Steve Carling saw them home without any real alarms, reaching the total in just 20 overs. Owens finished unbeaten on 57 from just 61 balls and while Carling played the anchor role, finishing on 44 from a comparatively sedate 58 balls.

To prove that it was far too hot to be doing too much running, 98 of Skipton's 118 runs came in boundaries. .

Skipton will hope to maintain their lead at the top of the table when they entertain Pool Mills tomorrow.

With Colton and Illingworth both winning last weekend, another win is vital as the end of the season draws near.

While the senior side were coasting to victory at Wood Lane, Skipton Seconds had a much more competitive encounter as they claimed the lion's share of the points in a draw game against Upper Wharfedale at Sandylands.

Batting first, Skipton had opener Chris Parker (41) leading a strong all-round effort, with Geoff Fryers (30) and Shakeel Rashid (30) lending strong support as the side posted a 227-7 total, Russ Aldersley producing the best bowling stint for the visitors with a 3-43 return from 14 overs.

Upper Wharfedale also had their successes with the bat, opener Gould (43) and Casper Bean (48) leading the response, but they were 14 runs short of their target and the last pair at the crease at stumps.

Elsewhere in the league, Craven teams are finding life fairly difficult as they strive to avoid relegation. Steeton picked up a welcome couple of Division A points when they held out for a draw at Menston, but they are still 12 points adrift of survival and urgently need a run of form.

Neighbours Silsden are also in dire straits. They are now propping up Division B after they allowed Harden to escape in a tense finale. The home side were in trouble at 153-9 chasing Silsden's 219-4, but the last-wicket pair held on to win by a wicket and turn the screw on their rivals.