Bradford League: Opener Richard Gould made a timely return to form as leaders Farsley trounced Spen Victoria by nine wickets in Division One of the Bradford League yesterday.
Gould emerged from his barren spell to hit an unbeaten 90 as Farsley bounced back from Saturday's four wicket defeat by title chasing Undercliffe.
Gould struck a six and 13 fours as he guided his side past Spen's disappointing total of 139 for eight.
Only Steve Bethel with a defiant 71 showed the necessary application to gather runs against the accurate Farsley attack.
Undercliffe slipped from second to fifth after only gaining one point from their match with Cleckheaton.
Off spinner Jeremy Batty took his season's best haul of six for 38 as Cleckheaton were bowled out for 185, but Undercliffe's batting faltered dramatically after a bright start.
They looked probable winners while in-form opener Mark Gilliver was at the crease but when he departed at 150 it sparked a dramatic collapse .
Seven wickets tumbled for 25 runs against the bowling of Kanwaljeet Singh (5-66) and Andy Yates (3-68) and it left Undercliffe clinging on desperately for a draw at the end still ten runs short of their rivals' score.
East Bierley, Hanging Heaton and Pudsey St Lawrence all won to climb above Undercliffe in what is increasingly becoming a congested battle for the leading places.
Ryan Robinson, another batsman who has been short of runs this season, found his touch with an unbeaten 106 to steer East Bierley to a six wicket win over Bankfoot.
Robinson peppered his innings with six sixes and nine fours as the Bankfoot bowlers were made to suffer.
Bankfoot had earlier made 207 for four, a total which was built around a fine unbeaten 96 from their Pakistan batsman Azam Khan.
Javed Umarji was the hero for Hanging Heaton. He hit an unbeaten 93 as they timed their run chase perfectly to defeat bottom team Yorkshire Bank by four wickets.
The highlight for Bank was an innings of 76 from their skipper Jatin Paranjape.
Pudsey St Lawrence followed up Saturday's win over East Bierley with a comfortable five wicket success against lowly Brighouse. Adrian Rooke took four for 53 for St Lawrence while Cameron Bailey (42no) and skipper Ashley Metcalfe (40) made valuable contributions.
Colin Chapman celebrated his first return to Pudsey Congs as a Baildon player by blasting a fine 103 in his side's drawn game. He shared a first wicket stand of 161 with Simon Davis (62).
Windhill's good form continued as they secured a three wicket win over champions Bradford & Bingley. David Paynter produced the decisive contribution taking six for 31 as Bradford & Bingley were dismissed for 118.
Yeadon stretched their lead in Division two to 13 points with an emphatic 172 run win over newcomers Esholt.
Naeem Khan (88) and Dave Gormley (74) shared a third wicket stand of 114 which along with a generous 47 extras helped Yeadon to make 248 for six.
Khan followed up with three for five as he and Darren Murray (5-29) skittled Esholt out for 76.
Lidget Green are now second after their 121 run win over Drighlington.
Hassan Adnan continued his brilliant run of form by making an undefeated 128 which was the cornerstone of Lidget Green's score of 239 for six.
Saltaire returned to winning ways with Sarfraz Ahmed hitting an unbeaten 106 as they defeated Idle by eight wickets.
There was a happy ending for Bowling Old Lane's Pakistani wicketkeeper Muhammed Shaffeq.
After making 186 not out and ending up on the losing side against Drighlington on Saturday, Shaffeq kept his good form going with 62 as his side scored a thrilling six wicket win over Great Horton.
Dave Maloney struck out boldly for 58 for Great Horton but it was not enough to save them from defeat.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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