Saints alive to chance to reclaim second place
Division One
Pudsey St Lawrence took advantage of featuring in the only game to survive the weather as they defeated Saltaire by six wickets to reclaim second place in the table.
They climbed above East Bierley whose home game with leaders Woodlands was washed out.
St Lawrence’s win earned them 16 points and means they have cut Woodlands’ lead to 28 points.
The Saltaire club did a remarkably good job in getting Roberts Park fit for play and clearly hoped to steal a march on their relegation rivals.
Unfortunately the defeat and a meagre return of four points meant they actually lost ground on those teams whose matches were abandoned and gained five points each.
Saltaire might have sensed they were in for a tough afternoon when St Lawrence skipper Mark Robertshaw won the toss and asked them to bat first.
|
Quick Table |
||
|
P |
PTS |
|
|
Woodlands (1) |
9 |
139 |
|
Pudsey St Lawrence (8) |
9 |
111 |
|
East Bierley (3) |
9 |
105 |
|
Bradford & Bingley (7) |
9 |
93 |
|
Cleckheaton (4) |
9 |
86 |
|
Lightcliffe (P) |
9 |
85 |
|
Hanging Heaton (9) |
9 |
81 |
|
Manningham Mills (10) |
9 |
76 |
|
Farsley (2) |
9 |
67 |
|
Saltaire (P) |
9 |
66 |
|
Pudsey Congs (5) |
9 |
60 |
|
Undercliffe (6) |
9 |
55 |
His decision brought a rapid reward when opener Farhan Khan was dismissed by new Durham recruit Oliver Ashford without a run on the board,
Ashford followed up with the wicket of in-form opener Irfan Amjad as Saltaire found runs hard to come by.
Left-hander Tabbi Bhatti dug in and made an unbeaten 46 from 140 balls, but nobody was able to quicken the tempo as St Lawrence’s bowlers kept things tight.
Off spinner Steve Watts (4-36) was particularly impressive as Saltaire were restricted to a modest 155-8.
St Lawrence found conditions a little easier when they batted. Openers Robertshaw and Adam Waite put together a first-wicket stand of 51 and there was no looking back after that.
Chris Marsden, who hit a last over six to win the Sovereign Health Care Priestley Cup first round tie when the sides met at Roberts Park last month, steered his side home with 12 overs to spare. He finished 29 not out after sharing an unbroken fifth-wicket stand with former Nottinghamshire all-rounder Gareth Clough,
Division Two
|
Quick Table |
||
|
P |
PTS |
|
|
Yeadon (6) |
9 |
115 |
|
Baildon (R) |
9 |
97 |
|
Morley (4) |
8 |
92 |
|
Windhill (12) |
9 |
92 |
|
Gomersal (R) |
8 |
81 |
|
Great Horton (5) |
8 |
79 |
|
Hartshead Moor (7) |
8 |
75 |
|
Spen Victoria (10) |
9 |
73 |
|
Keighley (3) |
8 |
72 |
|
Bankfoot (9) |
8 |
54 |
|
Bowling Old Lane (8) |
8 |
44 |
|
Idle (11) |
8 |
43 |
|
Brighouse (13) |
8 |
42 |
For the second successive week there wasn’t a single ball bowled in Division Two.
It means there have already been 14 abandonments this season since the first three rounds of fixtures were rearranged after heavy rain in April.
This compares to just four abandonments in the whole of 2011.
Division One, which didn’t have a single game abandoned last year, has had 13 abandonments this time.
