Slow left arm bowler Mushtaq Ahmed played a starring role with the bat as Baildon reached their third Heavy Woollen Cup final in a row with a 121-run win at Huddersfield League club Meltham.

They will meet Bradford League First Division rivals Hanging Heaton in a repeat of last year's final at Liversedge on Sunday, August 5, hoping to avenge their nine wicket defeat 12 months ago.

It means that Baildon play two finals in successive weeks as the following Sunday they meet Yeadon in the Priestley Cup final.

Hanging Heaton beat fellow Bradford League First Division club Cleckheaton by five wickets in the other semi-final.

Baildon, lacking opener Colin Chapman, made a good start with Simon Davies (77) and captain James Goldthorp (28) putting on 87 for the first wicket.

However, they collapsed after that, losing leading batmen Paul Spragg, Richard Robinson and Matthew Duce cheaply as they slid to 108 for four and were in more trouble at 132 for six before Mushtaq came to the rescue.

Coming in at the fall of the sixth wicket, Mushtaq took charge of the innings with 74 not out, including six sixes and three fours to help Baildon to close on 246 for nine.

It was soon clear that this would be more than enough as Meltham slumped to 56 for seven and, although the tail enders staged a mini-revival with Chris Berry unbeaten on 37, they were all out for 125.

Paceman Carl Smith was Baildon's most successful bowler with four for 23 while Azhar Abbas took three for 16 and Mark Bray, two for 23.

Cleckheaton were bowled out for 150 in the other semi-final with John Carruthers taking three for 22 and captain Simon Purdy three for 21. South African Derek Brand was top scorer with 57.

Steady batting by Philip Carter (38), Steve Bourne (33), Alan Mynett (27) and Javed Umarji (25 not out) enabled Hanging Heaton to win comfortably.

Baildon: S Davies c Barry b Armitage 77, J Goldthorp c Jagger b Swallow 28, P Spragg c Jagger b Swallow 11, R Robinson c Swallow b Armitage 4, M Duce c Swallow b Armitage 0, M Bray c Earnshaw b Knowles 9, A Abbas c Swallow b Kenworthy 2, M Ahmed not out 74, M Royce c Earnshaw b Knowles 8, R Abbott b Knowles 0, G Smith not out 2, Extras 31, Total (9wkts) 246.

Fall: 1-87, 2-103, 3-108, 4-108, 5-129, 6-132, 7-184, 8-209, 9-209.

Bowling: B Knowles 10-1-43-3, D Cocking 10-3-47-0, S Kenworthy 10-0-65-1, J Armitage 10-1-54-3, I Swallow 10-2-25-2.

Meltham: R Winpenny c Robinson b Bray 12, G Earnshaw c Goldthorp b Bray 6, I Swallow c Duce b Abbas 0, B Knowles b Smith 23, J Peaker c Spragg b Smith 8, B Shaw c Bray b Smith 0, N Jagger b Smith 0, G Berry not out 37, S Kenworthy b Abbas 30, J Armitage b Abbas 5, D Cocking c Duce b Spragg 1, Extras 3, Total 125.

Fall: 1-8, 2-10, 3-43, 4-43, 5-43, 6-43, 7-56, 8-118, 9-124, 10-125.

Bowling: M Bray 10-2-23-2, A Abbas 8-2-16-3, G Smith 10-3-23-4, R Robinson 10-1-46-0, M Ahmed 2-0-16-0, P Spragg 0.1-0-0-1.