Bradford & Bingley grateful to Townville after Methley loss

The hosts looked set to climb out of the bottom two when they reduced high-flying Townville to 201-9 in their pursuit of 232 to win.

But the visitors’ last-wicket pair added 32 runs unbroken to break Farsley’s hearts, leaving them seven points behind Bradford & Bingley.

The Wagon Laners came close to a shock of their own, but also came up just short.

Methley batted first and posted 234-9, as Bradley Reeve (3-62) and Jack Luxton (3-67) were the best of the bowlers for the visitors.

Bradford & Bingley scored runs throughout their reply, courtesy of Jack Hartley (41), Luxton (38), Louren Steenkamp (36) and Billy Whitford (30), but they could only manage 223 before being bowled out, losing by 11 runs.

Cleckheaton are faring better in that relegation battle, as their overseas player Yousaf Baber hit his fourth century of the season in a 33-run win at Ossett.

Baber’s 129, an innings containing four sixes and 15 fours, took his tally of league runs to 789 and demonstrated again his immense value to his team.

Ethan Lee (76) shared a second wicket partnership of 187 with Baber as Cleckheaton posted a score of 270-5.

Ossett’s reply was looking good, but they lost their last five wickets for 23 runs and were bowled out for 237.

Young Bradley Sylvester (4-34) enjoyed success with the ball and was backed up by skipper James Stansfield (3-51) and Baber (3-44).

The result means Cleckheaton are now level with Ossett in the table and are 22 points above the relegation places.

At the other end of the table, in the five-horse race for the title, Jer Lane, Woodlands and New Farnley enjoyed more comfortable victories than Townville and Methley on Saturday.

But Lane did have to overcome a nervy start, before emerging as 25-run victors over Pudsey St Lawrence.

A superb third-wicket partnership of 130 between Mosun Hussain (90) and overseas player Bhushan Talawadekar (58) revived the Bradford side from 16-2, as they eventually made 234-8.

Saints could only make 209 in reply, as Adal Islam (4-31) took the bowling honours for Jer Lane, who have a six-point lead over Woodlands.

The reigning champions, based in Oakenshaw, enjoyed a comprehensive 132-run win over near-neighbours Undercliffe.

Woodlands all-rounder Tom Clee was the key to victory, making 53 in his side’s total of 260 before producing his season’s best bowling figures of 7-44 as Undercliffe were bowled out for just 128.

Big-hitting Muhammad Bilal had thumped an unbeaten 69 at the end of Woodlands’ innings to propel them to a hefty total that proved far too much for Undercliffe to chase down.

Simon Lambert (3-47) and Jude Roberts (3-60) were the best of the bowlers for Undercliffe.

Finally, New Farnley had no trouble against rock-bottom Pudsey Congs, crushing them by 215 runs.

Carlton maintained their 13-point lead in Division One, as they defeated Morley by 28 runs.

Second-place side Baildon had a comfortable six-wicket win over bottom side Hanging Heaton, who were bowled out for a paltry 119.

Young opening bowler Sam Kelly (4-37), Cameron Sharp (3-14) and skipper Kevin McDermott (3-31) shared the wickets for Baildon, before opener James Skingle made 53 in the successful reply.

A ninth wicket stand of 94 between Bilal Hamid (68) and Mussawar Shah (42 not out) enabled Bankfoot to pull off a dramatic one-wicket win at Birstall.

That superb comeback victory saw them take advantage of East Bierley’s defeat at Batley to move into third place.

They slipped to 124-7 in reply to Birstall’s 259-9 before Quadratullah Azizi sparked the revival with a rapid 33.

Birstall still looked favourites when Azizi departed at 163-8, but Hamid and Shah had other ideas.

Opener Gary Wainwright (57) was the only one of the top order batters to make an impression.

Birstall had set a challenging total, but Azizi (4-58) and James Lee (3-72) ensured the chase was kept to manageable levels.

Batley defeated East Bierley by 21 runs on DLS after rain interrupted a high-scoring games.

Despite Batley racking up a huge total of 310-8, leg spinner Jack Dyson was again the most successful East Bierley bowler with an impressive 5-62.

In reply, Tom Burton (65) and Ben Heritage (59) put together a second wicket stand of 113 before

Hartshead Moor recovered from 81-6 and powered to a four-wicket win over Sandal, who had been bowled out for 168.

Bowling Old Lane closed to within a point of Yeadon after defeating them by 84 runs to boost their chances of avoiding relegation.

Old Lane remain in the bottom two but will take heart from the way they recovered from a poor start to win.

They were reduced to 25-4 before opener Farhan Hussain (60no) and Shahzaib Khan (47) led the recovery.

Yeadon’s fragile batting crumbled as they were dismissed for 96 with Abdullah Ijaz taking 4-22.

Scholes are the new leaders of Division Two after their 159-run win over Hopton Mills enabled them to capitalise on Gomersal’s defeat by Buttershaw St Paul’s.

They recovered from 22-4 and 66-5 to post a challenging total of 313-6.

Nick Curtis Firth (101no) and Adam Wood (82no) added an unbroken 177 for the seventh wicket after Kahleb Mahmood (44) had started the revival.

Hopton Mills were bowled out for 154 in reply, as Greg Keywood (5-27) and Mahmood (3-46) posed most of the problems.

Greg Keywood was superb with the ball on Saturday, as Scholes crushed Hopton Mills. (Image: Ray Spencer.)

Scholes are now one point ahead of Gomersal who fell to a 71-run defeat. Zahir Abbas smashed six sixes and 12 fours while making 96 batting at number nine for St Paul’s.

His late blitz built on the earlier work of opener Paul Carroll (59) in a total of 270.

Harry Dibb (5-70) and Amjad Minhas (4-65) sealed victory for St Paul’s with some good bowling.

Crossflatts remain in third place after a four-wicket win at East Ardsley while fellow high-flyers Hunslet Nelson bounced back from defeat last week with a 27-run win over Northowram Fields.

Altofts defeated Keighley by 85 runs, leaving the latter just four points clear of the relegation zone.

Simon Bailey (4-41) and Ijaz Ahmed (3-57) were Keighley’s best bowlers, while Johandre Barnard (41) and Harry Temperton (40) led the way in an unsuccessful reply of 197.

Lightcliffe dismissed Heckmondwike & Carlinghow for 229 and went on to win by three wickets.

Windhill & Daisy Hill’s promotion push is gathering momentum after their 67-run win at home to Wrenthorpe in Division Three.

They are now just five points behind their opponents after skipper Shoaib Iqbal (5-76) and Sajjad Ijaz (4-1) bowled out the visitors for 138.

Windhill & Daisy Hill’s score of 205 was built around the contributions of Hasan Malik (43), Khalid Mehmood (37) and Hasnain Khan (35). 

Leaders Great Preston are 41 points ahead of Wrenthorpe after compiling the day’s highest score of 365-4 in their 280-run win over Liversedge.

Gildersome & Farnley Hill ended their lean spell with a comfortable 162-run win over Crossbank Methodists which enabled them to climb off the bottom of the table at Liversedge’s expense.

Spen Victoria were another team to make a big score, making 313-6 as they defeated Wakefield St Michael’s by 106 runs.

Overseas player Sagar Sawant led Brighouse to a 99-run win over East Leeds on DLS, making 73 and taking 3-29 in a fine all-round display.

Finally, Adwalton chased down a Streethouse score of 221 to win by three wickets.