Skipton'S sixth defeat of the season in Division B of the Airedale & Wharfedale League has left them sharing the two relegation berths with Illingworth and they now need a major effort to avoid going down for the second successive season.

Their five-wicket defeat by Tong Park was coupled with wins for fellow strugglers Illingworth and Ilkley, leaving the Sandylands men propping up the table and in urgent need of points.

Tomorrow they visit Otley, who have only one more win than Skipton from nine outings, but if they are to rescue their perilous situation, they need to give their bowlers more runs to work with.

Their current plight has not been helped by a lack of luck with the toss, as skipper Geoff Fryers explains. "On the three occasions I've got it right, we've done OK, but we've lost the toss seven times and we can't really afford that sort of run.

"This season we've been doing better with the bat and using all our overs, in contrast to last summer. But we've not been getting the sort of totals that put pressure on the opposition and we haven't been able to bowl them out.

"Had we won the toss and batted second, I think we'd probably have another ten points or thereabouts on our total and we wouldn't be in our current situation.

On the credit side, Skipton are hopeful that bowler Graham Williamson will be restored to full fitness shortly after a lay-off and there is also the prospect of Andrew Strickland returning from his travels to become available during the second half of the season.

One plus for Saturday's defeat was the innings of Ian Bell, who batted at No 8 and was unbeaten on 33 at the close, a welcome boost for a capable left-hander who has been out of sorts with his batting in previous weeks.

Steeton had a match-winner in Grant Lindsay once again as they moved into third place in the Division A table with a 201-run win against Menston.

Silsden were probably content at the end of the day to capture a couple of points from their home game with Division B leaders Hall Park, although in restricting the visitors to 159-7 in their 50 overs, they probably harboured more ambitious hopes when they set out in pursuit.

The loss of prolific opener John Akrigg early in the piece, however, undermined the Silsden reply and with six players failing to reach double figures, the challenge was largely confined to collecting a couple of points.

In this regard, Lee Bilbrough played a crucial role, batting at No 6 and finishing with 41no to hold the response together and steer Silsden to 126-8 at stumps.

Upper Wharfedale were also involved in a drawn game when Pool Mills visited Wood Lane, Michael Harrison and David Daggett claiming chief responsibility for the home side's four-point return.

Prospects did not look too rosy when the Dalesmen slipped to 112-5, but Harrison produced some robust batting for his 87 and then Casper Bean (36no) and Daggett 17no) helped to push the score to a very respectable 224-8 at the close.

Opener Wilkinson, who made 88, was the key figure in the visitors' defiance and they moved to 169-6 after 50 overs.