Roberts takes a hat-trick as Congs defeat Saltaire

Division One

Glenn Roberts took a hat-trick as Pudsey Congs climbed out of the relegation positions with a hard-earned 34 run win over Saltaire.

Saltaire had progressed to 53-1 in reply to Congs’ modest score of 156, when Roberts changed the course of the game.

Top scorer Farhan Khan (30) – who had shared a second-wicket stand of 53 with Tabbi Bhatti – was the first of the left-arm spinner’s victims. He was caught by a leaping Basil Akram.

Bhatti fell next ball to a fine diving catch by wicketkeeper Babar Butt, before Nawaz Sardar, who had earlier taken a superb 6-15, was trapped lbw first ball. Roberts, who went on to return figures of 3-17 in 15 overs, was well supported by Richie Lamb (3-23) as Saltaire faded to 122 all out.

Congs were indebted to skipper Andrew Bairstow (51) and Nick Lindley (34) for ensuring their bowlers had a total they could defend. Bairstow hit two sixes and five fours as he countered the menace of Sardar.

Saltaire’s anguish at losing was no doubt heightened when they discovered that Undercliffe had beaten Farsley by 48 runs to push them to the bottom of the table.

Undercliffe owed their total of 220-6 thanks to the efforts of Mubtada Akhtar (43no), Matthew Bottomley (39) and former Farsley captain Ashley Metcalfe (34).

Haroon Rashid made a battling 64 for Farsley but he lacked support as his side were dismissed for 172. Paceman Imran Khan (3-26) and leg spinner Tom Hudson (3-41) helped seal Undercliffe’s third win of the season.

The position at the foot of the table is now incredibly tight with just five points covering the bottom four. Pudsey Congs have 92 points, Farsley (90), Undercliffe (88) and Saltaire (87).

Leaders Woodlands picked up a maximum 20 points as they defeated Hanging Heaton by 46 runs

Openers Scott Richardson (50) and Sam Frankland (35) shared a partnership of 86 before paceman David Stiff (5-55) hit back for Hanging Heaton, only for big-hitting Sarfraz Ahmed to seize the initiative again as he smashed seven sixes in a 23-ball knock of 51 not out that enabled Woodlands to make 229

Skipper Pieter Swanepoel (3-44) was the pick of the Woodlands bowlers as Hanging Heaton were dismissed for 183. Former Yorkshire leg-spinner Mark Lawson made 57 and Imran Dawood (30)

Pudsey St Lawrence surrendered second place to East Bierley after suffering a 90-run defeat against revitalised Cleckheaton. Former Yorkshire paceman James Lee took 3-29 as St Lawrence were bowled out for 87 in reply to Cleckheaton’s 177.

Richard Whitehurst (45), Ammar Mahmood (32) and James Lee (30) were Cleckheaton’s main contributors as spinner Chris Marsden (4-35) and Steve Watts (3-30) were backed up by Gareth Clough (3-61).

East Bierley went two points ahead of St Lawrence after beating Bradford & Bingley by five wickets. Left-arm spinner Luke Jarvis impressed with 5-34 as Bradford & Bingley wilted to 129 all out with only opener Simon Davies (37) making his mark.

East Bierley eased to their target with former Scotland captain Gavin Hamilton(53) and his new opening partner Kez Ahmed (38) sharing a partnership of 94

Lightcliffe gained revenge for their recent Sovereign Health Care Priestley Cup defeat by beating their conquerors Manningham Mills by 77 runs. Spinners Suleman Khan (5-26) and Chris Greenwood (3-36) turned the game in their side’s favour by dismissing Mills for 125.

Useful contributions from Alex Lees (39), Chris Taylor (35) and Alex Stead (32) enabled Lightcliffe to post a score of 202-6. Ali Noman was the best of the Mills bowlers with 3-39.

Division Two

The top three clearly enjoyed their return to action after all the recent wet weather as they all recorded convincing wins.

Leaders Yeadon extended their unbeaten run to 14 matches as they defeated Bankfoot by seven wickets, while Baildon cruised to a 124-run win at Hartshead Moor and Morley scored a thrilling two-wicket victory at Windhill.

Off-spinner Damon Gormley demonstrated why he is again topping the Division Two bowling averages by taking 5-31 as Bankfoot were dismissed for just 108. Gormley was well supported by left-arm spinner Ben Elvidge (4-33) as only James Holdsworth (39) resisted. Skipper James Todd made 40 as Yeadon eased to their victory target.

Baildon opener Gharib Razak set the tone for their success at Highmoor Lane. He smashed 86 and was supported by Jonny Reynolds (35no) as Baildon made 229-8 despite the efforts of teenage opening bowler George Saville (4-40).

Only Craig Field (31) of the Hartshead Moor batsmen looked at ease as Mushtaq Ahmed (4-17), Alex Hewitt (3-15) and Sohail Raz (3-34) bowled Baildon to victory.

Morley timed their run chase perfectly as they pursued a Windhill score of 229-4 which include another century for overseas player Hassan Mehmood. His 117 not out included eight sixes and seven fours and enabled his side to build on the work of opener Khalid Mehmood (46).

Morley’s overseas player Kashif Naveed (56) gave their run chase impetus and they won with an over to spare after good knocks from Colin Nuthall (43), Matthew Baxter (37) and Dave Nebard (33no). Tuseif Arshad (3-48) was the best of the Windhill bowlers.

Lowly Bowling old Lane were quite literally felled at Gomersal. Opening bowlers Josh Fell took (5-19) and was backed up by James Russell (4-29) as Old Lane were skittled out for 69, Gomersal took just 13,4 overs to knock off the runs with Greg Pickles finishing 35 not out. All four wickets to fall went to Zubair Najeeb 4-15.

Keighley were another team in a hurry, They skittled Idle out for 72 before cruising to a five-wicket win. Joe Stead was in fine form and took 6-27 for Keighley.

Brighouse remain bottom after a 68-run defeat by Spen Victoria. Half-centuries from the former Woodlands duo of Tosh Baker (69) and Dan Shuffe (56) were backed up by good contributions from Matt Garside (37) and Ben Platt (32) as Spen made 220-6.

Brighouse, despite a battling 54 from Dan Dunkerley, were dismissed for 152 as ben Platt picked up 3-24 and Joel Pollard (3-39)