Pudsey St Lawrence lost their place at the top of JCT600 Bradford League Division One after a ten-wicket thrashing at championship rivals East Bierley yesterday.
Such was the extent of their defeat that they didn’t gain a single point from the match.
Bradford & Bingley took advantage of St Lawrence’s trouncing to take over at the top for the first time this season after a four-wicket home win over Undercliffe, while Woodlands moved into third place after a 36-run win at defending champions Baildon.
However, it was St Lawrence’s defeat – and the scale of it – that was the big surprise of the day.
Their highly acclaimed batting line-up failed spectacularly as they were shot out for a mere 119, with Bierley skipper, left-arm pace bowler Paul Hutchison, taking 5-39 against his old club and overseas pace bowler Muhammad Azharullah 3-49.
Then Bierley raced to victory in only 18.4 overs, with Gharib Razak (53 not out) and Gavin Hamilton (50 not out) making half-centuries.
Bingley seized their chance to take over at the top by inflicting a fourth successive defeat on one-time leaders Undercliffe at Wagon Lane.
Undercliffe, who were pegged back for much of their innings, cut loose at tthe end, adding 76 in the last eight overs thanks to wicketkeeper Luke Holroyd, who hit 72 not out from 58 balls, smashing six sixes and three fours, and his late onslaught enabled the visitors to reach 187-6.
Opener Simon Davies (62) and skipper Phil Slater (43) set Bingley on course for victory with a third-wicket stand of 73 after they lost two early wickets.
Davies continued to hold the innings together until he was fifth out with 15 needed, and Bingley achieved their win with 11.1 overs left.
The Walmsley twins played key roles as Cleckheaton beat next-to-bottom Saltaire by 34 runs.
Marcus top-scored with 62 in Cleckheaton’s 176-9, then off-spinner Edward took 4-27 and Mark Cummins 3-37 as the home side were bowled out for 142. Saltaire skipper Ijaz Khan took 6-42.
An unbroken second-wicket stand of 172 between Yorkshire second-teamer James Lee (84 not out) and Bradley Kruger (83 not out) enabled Farsley to beat third-from-bottom Yeadon by nine wickets.
Both batsmen hit a six and 13 fours as Farsley passed Yeadon’s total of 182-9 with 16.1 overs to spare after Robert Thornton had taken 6-41.
Opener Gareth Phillips led the way with 64 as Pudsey Congs beat Gomersal by five wickets with 8.1 overs to spare.
Opener Richard Gould (59) and overseas batsman Shahzaib Khan (31) were top scorers as Gomersal made 186-7, but that total presented few problems to Congs as they recovered the previous week’s defeat by Bierley.
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