Last-wicket pair are the heroes for Cleckheaton

Division One

Last-wicket pair Mally Nicholson and Andrew Deegan clinched a dramatic one-wicket win for Cleckheaton at Lightcliffe.

Yorkshire paceman Moin Ashraf (5-28) looked to have bowled Lightcliffe to the brink of victory as Cleckheaton were reduced to 98-9 in reply to the home team’s score of 137-6 in a match reduced to 30 overs a side.

But Nicholson (56no) and Deegan (8no) refused to give in. They gradually whittled down the target until six was needed from the final over. Four came from the first five balls of Alex Stead’s over, then Deegan became his side’s unlikely hero by hitting two from the last ball to secure victory.

Wicketkeeper Nicholson hit four sixes and three fours in his 56 and ensured that Cleckheaton recorded their third successive win – something few would have predicted when they were 8-4.

Farsley lifted themselves off the bottom of the table with an impressive 113-run win over Bradford & Bingley at Wagon:Lane.

Matthew Lumb produced a stunning spell of 6-34 and Chris Henry picked up 4-26 as Bradford & Bingley were dismissed for 64 in reply to Farsley’s 177 all out.

Andrew Duckworth batted with determination to make the top score of 51 for Farsley in the face of some good bowling from Chris Thompson 5-42.

The win lifts them to ninth in the table. Pudsey Congs, whose game with Hanging Heaton was abandoned after just seven balls, are now bottom. Their fixture was one of three abandoned games in the top flight. The others to succumb to the weather were Manningham Mills v Pudsey St Lawrence and East Bierley v Undercliffe.

Leaders Woodlands made it seven wins in seven games as they defeated Saltaire by 27 runs in a match reduced to 42 overs a side.

Woodlands skipper Pieter Swanepoel, who took two hat-tricks on his previous visit to Roberts Park, picked up 5-43 this time as Saltaire were restricted to 136-9 in reply to the Woodlands score of 162-9.

Tabbi Bhatt made a battling 49 for Saltaire, but it wasn’t enough to save his team from defeat.

Woodlands were indebted to the in-form Grant Soames (46) and opener Sam Frankland (38) for helping them to 162-9 as overseas player Nawaz Sardar (4-44) and skipper Ijaz Khan (4-52) kept nagging away.

Division Two

Baildon were the big winners on a day when the weather frustrated leaders Yeadon and fellow promotion contenders Gomersal. They defeated Morley by seven wickets to climb above them into second place

Morley struggled against the bowling of Sohail Raz (4-31) as they were restricted to 146-9 on a pitch that assisted the bowlers. Luke Heinemann (48) and Kashif Naveed (31) were the only batsmen to survive for long.

Baildon paced their reply perfectly with opener Simon Webb leading the way with a patient innings of 54 while Kasir Maroof (35) gave him good support.

Bankfoot, Bowling Old Lane and Idle all recorded their first wins of the season against Spen Victoria,Keighley and Brighouse respectively.

Bankfoot opener Kanchana Rodrigo hit the day’s only century. He smashed two sixes and 19 fours as he made 123 – his maiden JCT600 Bradford League century. Nigel Hanson weighed in with a rapid unbeaten 50 as Bankfoot reached 261-6.

Spen Victoria never looked like matching that total – especially as they had both Joel Pollard and Craig Woodhead injured and unable to bat. Tosh Baker (57) and Dan Shuffe (46) were the main contributors to Spen’s 179 all out.

Old Lane’s bowlers secured their 53-run win over Keighley. Mahboob Hussain (4-26), Zubair Najeeb (3-23) and Arsalan Ijaz (3-25) joined forces to dismiss Keighley for 109, Batting first, Old Lane had made 169 with Ayyaz Akram (46), Mohammed Faisal (39) leading the way, Tom Stead (4-38) and Simon Bailey (3-33) were Keighley’s best bowlers

Half-centuries from Wajid Hussain (63no) and Amrit Bhogal (53) enabled Idle to make 167-2 before dismissing Brighouse of 123. Tahir Majid offered some defiance for Brighouse with an unbeaten 50,as Michael Kelsey (3-23) and Harpal Singh (3-47) wrapped up Idle’s victory.