Jer Lane suffered a dramatic five-run defeat against title rivals New Farnley on Saturday and lost the Premier Division leadership to Woodlands, who defeated Bradford & Bingley by 54 runs.

With Townville and Methley both recording wins just 30 points cover the top five teams with six games to play, but Woodlands, who are chasing a fifth-successive title, will certainly be favourites to come out on top.

Alex Lilley took two wickets with the first two balls of the final over as New Farnley bowled out Jer Lane for 208 to secure a dramatic victory at Park Avenue.

But the real heroes of their victory were Adam Ahmed (51 not out) and Gurman Randhawa (33no,) who rescued New Farnley from 126-7 with an unbroken eighth wicket stand of 87.

They batted for 21.2 overs and showed considerable application after spinner Cosmond Walters (3-33) had put Jer Lane in control.

Their partnership showed the value of batting out the full 50 overs as Jer Lane found the going equally challenging when they batted.

Overseas player Bhushan Talawadekar showed good application as he top scored with 78 while Hamzah Iqbal (30) was the only other batter to make an impression as seamer Usman Arshad (3-49) bowled with good control before Lilley delivered that dramatic finale.

Cosmond Walters kept it tight for Jer Lane against New Farnley, but ultimately his bowling efforts were to no avail.Cosmond Walters kept it tight for Jer Lane against New Farnley, but ultimately his bowling efforts were to no avail. (Image: Ray Spencer.)

Opener Tim Jackson made an unbeaten 107 as Woodlands compiled the division’s highest score of the day of 334-6 against Bradford & Bingley – the side they will meet in the Gordon Rigg Priestley Cup final in two weeks’ time.

He was joined in a third wicket stand of 103 by skipper Brad Schmulian (61, before Muhammad Bilal blasted 48 from just 19 balls to ensure B&B were left chasing a mammoth total.

Opener Jacob Slator (65) and South African Louren Steenkamp (54) added 109 for Bradford & Bingley’s second wicket which provided the foundation for their battling reply of 280-9.

Skipper Ed Brown top scored with 85 before becoming a victim of leg-spinner Schmulian, who finished with 6-85.

Despite securing maximum batting points, Bradford & Bingley dropped into the bottom two following Farsley’s seven-wicket win over rock-bottom Pudsey Congs.

Townville bounced back from their defeat by Ossett with an emphatic 216-run win at Undercliffe.

Zeeshan Qasim (4-66) proved to be the best of the Undercliffe bowlers, but he could not stop Townville racking up 293-9.

And overseas player Sharoon Siraj (46) was the only Undercliffe player to make double figures in their reply as they were dismissed for just 77.

Methley kept themselves in contention for honours with a 166-run over Cleckheaton.

They posted 248-8 despite Max Chappell (3-57) and Bradley Sylvester (3-80) posing a threat with the ball, before Cleckheaton collapsed to a miserable 82 all out when it was their turn to bat.

In a mid-table battle, Pudsey St Lawrence bowled out Ossett for 164 to complete an 87-run win.

Baildon appear to be suffering a from a dose of promotion jitters after their batting again malfunctioned and they slumped to a 126-run defeat against Morley in Division One.

Seif Hussain took 5-37 as Morley were bowled out for a below-par 176, but a pathetic reply saw Baildon castled for just 50.

Despite the defeat, Baildon remain second, 43 points adrift of leaders Carlton and 21 ahead of third place Bankfoot.

Carlton took another step towards promotion with a comfortable 110-run win over East Bierley.

They made 221-6 batting first, East Bierley’s Jack Dyson claiming 4-59, before bowling out their opponents for 111.

Australian Mitchell Jones hit a six from the second ball of the final over as Bankfoot squeezed home by two wickets in a tight finish at Batley.

Mohammed Abbas (65), James Lee (38) and Quadratullah Azizi (34) led Bankfoot’s pursuit of Batley’s 247-9.

Not only did Lee produce an important innings, but with 3-44, he was also Bankfoot’s most successful bowler.

Birstall chased down a challenging Hartshead Moor score of 283 to win by four wickets with seven balls to spare. 

Yeadon overhauled a Sandal score of 251-8 to win by six wickets in the penultimate over of an exciting contest.

The match between Hanging Heaton and Bowling Old Lane was abandoned with the home side on 106-6 in reply to Bowling Old Lane’s 226-8.

The league is investigating the abandonment and is awaiting the reports of the match umpires.

Crossflatts are the new Division Two leaders after they defeated Hopton Mills by three wickets and capitalised on Gomersal’s 60-run defeat against Northowram Fields.

Flatts were grateful for the collective efforts of Jacob Stephens (54), Sanjula Bandara (50), Joe Greenwood (44), Awais Khan (31), and Nadeem Safdar (30no), as they overhauled relegation-threatened Mills’ imposing total of 289-9.

Azhar Mehmood (3-48) led the Crossflatts bowling to ensure they restricted Hopton to a total that was chaseable.

Altofts snatched a one-wicket win at Scholes from the final ball of the game.

It was a sickening blow for Scholes bowler Josh Fell, who had taken 5-40 as Altofts slipped to 123-9 chasing 171 to win, only for the last pair to put on an unbroken 48 to see their side home.

It was far less close at Keighley, as visitors Hunslet Nelson recorded a 145-run win.

They made an impressive 303-6, then opener Nathan Storton (46) and Zahir Shah (35) top scored as Keighley were bowled out for only 158.

East Ardsley bowled out Heckmondwike & Carlinghow  for 158 to complete a 62-run win, while Lightcliffe pulled off a three-wicket victory over Buttershaw St Paul’s despite the determined efforts of Mohammad Shahnawaz (4-59).

Buttershaw had posted a total of 260 when they batted first thanks to Mohammed Altaf (53no), Zahir Abbas (53) and Jack Wakeling (42).

Kabeer Hussain produced a memorable performance to help Crossbank Methodists secure a four-run win over Liversedge in Division Three.

He blasted 72 not out from 47 balls to take his side from 98-9 to 177 all out, then took two wickets in two balls to seal a dramatic win, finishing with 4-31.

Great Preston chased down a Spen Victoria score of 247-7 to continue their relentless march to promotion with a seven-wicket win.

Second-placed Wrenthorpe bowled out East Leeds for 128 before easing to an eight-wicket victory.

Windhill & Daisy Hill kept the pressure on Wrenthorpe with a 146-run victory over Gildersome & Farnley Hill.

Nasir Chowdrey (93no) and Ahsan Tanveer (52) guided them to a score of 265-9, before Shoaib Iqbal (4-62), Sajjad Ijaz (3-47) and Hasnain Khan (3-10) dismissed their opponents for just 119.

Adwalton enjoyed a four-wicket win over Wakefield St Michael’s, while Abid Ali (4-21) and Sagar Sawant (3-27) enabled Brighouse to bowl out Streethouse for just 104 on the way to their own four-wicket success.