JCT 600 Bradford League First Teams review June 15, 2008

'Houdini' Woodlands produce another great escape to victory

Posted: June 15, 2008

Champions Woodlands staged another "Houdini like" escape from the jaws of defeat to snatch another dramatic win.

They looked set for their second defeat of the season when they collapsed from 56-0 to 94 all out against Pudsey St Lawrence at Tofts Road.

There was no hint of the drama that lie ahead when Woodlands openers Sam Frankland (28) and Scott Richardson (16) got away to a brisk start.

But St Lawrence hit back strongly with left armer Gary Severn (6-39) and Alex Stead (4-25) exploiting the conditions.

It is always dangerous to write Woodlands off and so they proved again as they hit back to dismiss St Lawrence for 90 with Pieter Swanepoel taking six for 42.

Their lead has been cut to four points though. Bradford & Bingley, pointless on Saturday when they lost by ten wickets to Matthew Hoggard inspired Baildon, picked up a 20-point maximum as they beat Hanging Heaton by 48 runs.

There were half centuries for Amila Ranga and Chris Thompson in Bradford & Bingley’s score of 245-7. Carl Sharp (40) and skipper Phil Slater (39) also made useful contributions.

Hanging Heaton started their reply positively through Chris Schofield (51) and Rizwan Ahmed (30), but once they had been parted the Bradford & Bingley off spinners went to work. Matthew Cocksott took five for 28 and David Clow (4-67) as Hanging Heaton subsided to 197 all out.

Cleckheaton and Pudsey Congs each made it six wins on the trot and they are now third and fourth respectively.

Congs dismissed bottom team Brighouse for 47 as they cantered to a nine-wicket win. Mohammad Naved took four for 15 and Mark Bray (4-7) as brittle Brighouse crumbled. Congs eased to their victory target in 7.1 overs.

Mohammad Zaman continued his good form as Cleckheaton defeated Yeadon by six-wickets. Zaman made 86no and shared an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 104 with former Yeadon skipper Craig Thornton (49no).

Two of the title contenders, Baildon and East Bierley were thwarted by the weather. Rain in the second innings of their respective matches with Manningham Mills and Saltaire meant they had to settle for two points for an incomplete match plus bonus points as the sides did not face an equal amount of overs. It means both lose ground to their rivals.

East Bierley, boosted by 52 from Durham wicketkeeper Lee Goddard and 45 from Andrew Rennison, made 199 all out. Once again Saltaire's Indian spin bowler Rahul Kanwat shone with figures of four for 49.

Saltaire were always struggling after losing early wickets in reply. When rain shaved six over from the game they knew that East Bierley had to bowl them out to claim the ten points and they dug in to ensure they didn't achieve that objective. Saltaire finished on 104-8. Left arm spinner Luke Jarvis was the pick of the bowlers with three for ten.

Baildon, who were without Yorkshire and England star Matthew Hoggard plus opening bowlers Stuart Lemon and Craig Hitchenor saw rain shave four overs off their game when it was interestingly poised.

Baildon made 193-9 batting first. Skipper Ian Philliskirk continued his good form with a forceful knock of 63,while Jonny Reynolds made 30. The pick of the Mills bowlers was Amjid Khan with four for 36.

The impressive Mills overseas player Quaiser Abbas dominated their reply. He made a sparkling 70 while Fawad Maqsood weighed in with 33. Mills were 177-6, 17 short of their victory target when play ended. Left arm spinner Mushtaq Ahmed took four for 36 for Baildon.

Esholt completed a good weekend's work by recording their second successive win - a six-wicket triumph over Bowling Old Lane. Skipper Richard Whitehurst (38), Lee Gordon (33) and Paul Cummins (31) guided them past the Bowling Old Lane score of 145 all out with 10.4 overs to spare. Shahzaib Khan (4-54) was the pick of the Esholt bowlers.The result keeps Old Lane firmly rooted in a relegation position.