Woodlands and Pudsey St Lawrence are level on points at the top of Division One as the title race continues to enthral Bradford League cricket followers.

Both won their latest matches, with Woodlands beating Yeadon at home by 42 runs, while St Lawrence enjoyed a seven-wicket home win over defending champions Baildon.

Woodlands are top because they have won one match more than St Lawrence, while Bradford & Bingley are in third place, nine points behind after their nine-wicket home win over East Bierley.

St Lawrence owed their win to an outstanding bowling performance by left-arm paceman Gary Severn, while Woodlands’ slow left-armer Chris Brice was equally impressive as they both took seven wickets.

Severn took 7-35 in 15 overs as Baildon were bowled out for 143.

They were in even deeper trouble at 84-7 before young Harry Smallwood led a recovery with an innings of 40.

St Lawrence lost two early wickets in reply, but skipper James Smith, with 69, and Gareth Clough, with 39 not out, ensured their comfortable win.

Woodlands underlined their powers of recovery in their victory over relegation-threatened Yeadon.

At 30-6, they were in big trouble, but No 9 batsman Nicky Rushworth led their fightback with 50 not out and received good support from wicket-keeper Usman Salim (32) and Sarfraz Ahmed (25) as they reached 160-9.

Brice, Division One’s leading wicket-taker, then took charge, spinning Wood-lands to a 42-run victory with 7-37.

Andrew Robertson (4-41) and Mahmood Rasool (3-35) were Yeadon’s best bowlers, while Damon Gormley was top scorer with 49.

Pudsey Congs moved into fourth place after a 93-run win over one-time leaders Undercliffe, who slumped to their sixth defeat in a row.

Congs recovered from 33-3 to reach the division’s top score of the day – 209-6 – thanks to Adam Patel, who made 108 not out, including five sixes and nine fours.

He was well supported by Andrew Bairstow (44) and skipper Glenn Roberts (33). Undercliffe were then bowled out for 116, with Farakh Hussain (42) their top scorer.

It was a special day for bottom club Bankfoot, who won their first match of the season, beating fellow relegation candidates Saltaire by 56 runs.

Their hero was Andrew Duckworth, who made an unbeaten 117 in their total of 182.

Left-arm spinner Andrew Deegan took 6-26 as Saltaire were bowled out for 126.

Skipper Richard White-hurst scored 55 not out as Gomersal recovered from 19-4 to beat Farsley by four wickets.

Whitehurst received good support from overseas player Shahzaib Khan (32).

Khan had earlier taken 4-30 as Farsley slumped to 90-8 before Tom Slater (43) helped them to reach 151.