First teams review Tuesday, June 5

Division One

Steve Watts sent Pudsey Congs spinning to a crushing 118-run defeat in the Pudsey derby at Tofts Road.

The off spinner took 5-20 as Congs were skittled for just 89 in reply to St Lawrence’s score of 207-6. Skipper Andrew Bairstow (26) was their top scorer on an afternoon they will want to forget,

The result sees St Lawrence climb into second place and leaves Congs languishing in the relegation zone after their fourth defeat in six games.

St Lawrence’s in-form batsmen James Smith and Mark Robertshaw set up the victory.
Opener Robertshaw laid the foundation with a sound innings of 50, then Smith quickened the tempo with an unbeaten 63 from 51 balls which contained four sixes and three fours.

St Lawrence are 22 points adrift of champions Woodlands who recorded their sixth-successive win as they defeated Manningham Mills by 89 runs.

Woodlands looked to be faltering when they were reduced to 99-5, but Tim Orrell produced his second valuable innings of the weekend to pull them round. The former skipper made 46 and was joined in a sixth-wicket stand of 90 by the consistent Grant Soames (45).

Their efforts enables Woodlands to post a score of 196-6 which Mills never looked like threatening. Opener Farakh Hussain made 36 but the pressure exerted by the ever-dependable new-ball attack of Sarfraz Ahmed (4-20) and Pieter Swanepoel (3-43) told as Mills were dismissed for 107.

Bradford & Bingley moved up to third after recording a four-wicket win at Hanging Heaton. The home side were reduced to 40-6 by the fine opening spells of Chris Thompson (3-19) and Matt Simpson (3-22).

Once again big-hitting David Stiff gave his side a lift. He followed up his 124 not out against Manningham Mills on Saturday with 65. Once again he peppered the boundary as he hit seven sixes and four fours. After he departed left-arm spinner Sandheep Ravinshankar took 3-32 as Hanging Heaton were bowled out for 149.

That man Stiff gave Bradford & Bingley two early scares by removing openers Simon Davies and Scott Etherington cheaply, but David Clow steadied the innings and got good support from Chris Thompson (37).

Clow became Stiff’s third victim when he was dismissed for 51, but by then his side were in touching distance of their victory target. Stiff finished with 3-34.

East Bierley dropped from second to fourth as they suffered a three-wicket defeat against a Cleckheaton side that has won both its Diamond Jubilee weekend fixtures despite losing the previous four.

Their bowlers held the key to their success. Spinner Andrew Deegan (3-30) and paceman James Lee (2-46) were the most successful bowlers as East Bierley perished for 147, but they would be the first to acknowledge the fine work of Ian Wood who took 2-25 in his 15 overs to put East Bierley under pressure.

Skipper John Wood emerged from his barren run with the bat to hammer two sixes and ten fours in a knock of 56 which enabled Cleckheaton to seize the initiative at the start of their innings.

Once Wood’s 45-ball innings came to an end the complexion of the game changed. Spinners Luke Jarvis (4-39) and Kez Ahmed (3-39) caused a few jitters before Cleckheaton closed out their deserved victory.

Their was a tight finish at Farsley where the home side lost their last five wickets for 16 runs as they went down to a five-run defeat against Lightcliffe.

For bottom-of-the-table Farsley, this was a game they could and should have won after bowling out Lightcliffe for 149. Opener Andrew Duckworth (38) and Haroon Rashid (32) looked to have out their side in a strong position, but Lightcliffe were in no mood to throw in the towel. Suleman Khan (3-25) and Alex Stead (3-32) bowling them to victory.

Earlier, Lightcliffe had also found run scoring difficult as Joe Greaves picked up 3-7 and spinner Mark Harrison (3-17)

Saltaire ended their run of four-successive defeats with a comfortable 67-run win over Undercliffe. Two of their former Undercliffe players played a big part in their success.

Batsman Tabbi Bhatti top-scored with 53 as Saltaire were bowled out for 149 with their old boy Yassir Abbas taking 4-32.

When Undercliffe batted they crumbled to 82 all out against the bowling of Farhan Khan (5-21) and their former overseas player Nawaz Sardar (3-15).

Division Two

Yeadon retained their position at the top of Division Two with a 45-run triumph at Hartshead Moor to extend their winning run to six matches.

Ben Elvidge made an unbeaten 75 and James Riley (47) as Yeadon made 215-7 before bowling out Hartshead Moor for 170 with off spinner Damon Gormley taking his season’s best haul of 6-36. Simon North top scored for Hartshead Moor with 44.

Yeadon have a 15-point lead over second-placed Morley. They kept up their promotion challenge with a nine-wicket win at Spen Victoria. Opening bowler Nathan Bromby took 5-33 as the home side were dismissed for 100, then Gary Wainwright made an unbeaten 43 to steer Morley home.

Baildon are third after inflicting a second-successive defeat on Gomersal. Greg Pickles (37) and skipper Adam Greenwood (33) were the main contributors to Gomersal’s 179-6 as left-arm spinner Mushtaq Ahmed picked up 3-39.

Baildon experienced little difficulty in chasing down their victory target with Jonny Reynolds (68no) and Sohail Raz (35no) leading the way.

Elsewhere, Great Horton recovered from being bowled out for 98 to dismiss win less Bankfoot for 58 with Sadaqat Zaman taking 5-27 and Muhammad Akbar (4-24). Bankfoot lost their last nine wickets for just 17 runs.

Brighouse recorded their first win of the season as they defeated Bowling Old Lane by 15 runs. Opener Dominic Walsh top scored with 34 as Brighouse posted a score of 162-7. Mahboob Hussain was the most successful bowler with 3-27.

Old Lane, who have lost all their matches, were dismissed for 147. That total would have been a lot less but for a breezy unbeaten 68 from Shoaib Iqbal after they had plunged to 59-5. Dan Dunkerley took 3-19 and Will Smith (3-25) for Brighouse.

Windhill moved up to third place after edging home by four wickets against Idle with four balls to spare.

Raqeeb Younis hit an unbeaten 86 to steer them home as they chased down the Idle score of 196-9. Andy Wilsdon took 4-46 for Idle.

Earlier, half centuries from Sohail Hussain (53) and Waj Hussain (50) were the main contributions to Idle’s innings as new signing Mansha Khan again proved his worth to Windhill with 6-21