Second-placed Farsley beat Pudsey St Lawrence in a high-scoring match at Red Lane following a perfectly-timed run-chase.

The three-wicket win enabled Farsley to cut Bradford & Bingley’s lead at the top of the First Division to two points while this was St Lawrence’s third defeat in a row.

Skipper Ian Philliskirk led the run-chase after St Lawrence had posted a challenging 252-4. Philliskirk came to the crease after Farsley lost Andrew Duckworth at seven and took part in two big stands – 94 with Stephen Simpson (41) for the second wicket and 88 with the prolific Lorenzo Ingram (49) for the third.

He was fourth out at 202 having made 89 and Farsley lost three more wickets before hitting the winning runs with four balls to spare.

Earlier, Mark Robertshaw (83) and Adam Waite put on 61 for St Lawrence’s first wicket and Gareth Clough (36no) and Chris Marsden (45) kept the momentum going with a fourth-wicket stand of 81.

East Bierley moved into third place after a 55-run win at Hanging Heaton.

Former Yorkshire player Ismail Dawood was top-scorer with 80 against his former club while Gharib Razak made 56.

Last season’s Second Division champions were then bowled out for 156, with Dawood’s younger brother Imran making 36.

After losing their first two matches, Woodlands have won four in a row to move into fourth place. Their latest win came at the expense of Baildon, who dropped into bottom place as a result of their fifth defeat of the season.

It was not straightforward for the home side, however. For after openers Sam Frankland (71) and Scott Richard-son (40) put on 74 for the first wicket, Woodlands collapsed to 110-8 before Adam Goldthorpe led a partial rescue with 46 not out to lift them to 164.

Richard Atkins (4-65) and slow left-arm bowler Mushtaq Ahmed (4-24) each took four wickets.

Skipper Pieter Swanepoel then took 5-47 as Baildon slid to a 75-run defeat after being bowled out for a mere 89.

Gomersal are next to the bottom after a five-wicket home defeat against Manningham Mills.

Ben Platt was top-scorer with 59 as Gomersal were restricted to 173, with overseas player Imran Khalid taking 4-43, Iqbal Khan 3-33 and Zeeshan Qasim 3-39.

Khalid then completed a fine all-round performance by making 65 while Mohammed Altaf scored 47 not out as Mills reached their target with 8.2 overs to spare.

Defending champions Pudsey Congs slipped to a 45-run home defeat against Undercliffe.

Yorkshire’s Callum Geldart continued his impressive form with 84 while Narwaz Sardar scored 59 not out as Undercliffe totalled 244-5.

Former Saltaire bowlers Tom Hudson, with 4-56, and Yassir Abbas (3-66) then bowled out Congs for 199, with only Barbar Butt (67) showing much resistance.