Esholt bowed out of the Solly Sports Heavy Woollen Cup in the only fourth-round tie completed on the due date.

They went down by 150 runs at Central Yorkshire League giants Townville but felt they had done the JCT600 Bradford League proud in reaching the last eight.

"At one point it looked as if we might be chasing 350," said Esholt's cricket secretary David Young.

"Tim Walton was scoring heavily and Townville were 80 for one after 12 overs.

"But then we made a couple of bowling changes and slow left-arm spinner Ben Platt and our overseas player Shahzaib Khan slowed them down a bit."

Even so, Townville made 270 for six, Lee Smith hitting 78, and Young said: "We paid the price for not having a regular fifth bowler.

"Robin Hill would normally do that job but he has been out with a pulled side muscle."

It rained during the tea interval and Esholt suffered a major blow in the first over of their innings when Richard Whitehurst was bowled.

Khan then fell to what Young called "a dubious lbw decision" and the Bradford League Division Two side were four for two.

There was no way back from that and they were dismissed for 120, although Platt completed a fine all-round match by making 52.

Young said of Esholt's cup run: "We chased down 260 to win at Golcar, which goes to show that there isn't anything between the Bradford League Second Division and the Huddersfield League Premiership, which is good for the Bradford League."

There was no play in the all-Bradford League tie between Saltaire and Idle, nor the contests between Undercliffe and Wrenthorpe (Central Yorkshire League) and Wickersley (South Yorkshire League) and Delph & Dobcross (Huddersfield League).

These three games have all been rearranged for Sunday, July 8, as have the Crowther Cup ties between Spen Victoria and Shelley, Birstall and Keighley and Woodlands and Mirfield Parish Cavaliers.

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