Bowling eye double glory

3:33pm Monday 17th July 2006

A remarkable summer for Bowling Old Lane has seen both their first and second teams reach Bradford League cup finals.

Just 36 hours after the seconds had reached the final of the Priestley Shield, the first team claimed their third First Division scalp to beat Hanging Heaton by 38 runs in the Priestley Cup semi-final.

The first team have not reached the Cup final for 37 years while the seconds' semi-final win over rivals Great Horton gives them the chance to win the Shield for the first time since 1975.

And with both sides looking good for promotion in their respective leagues, it could turn out to be one of the best seasons in the club's history.

Amjad Khan was the bowling hero for the first team as they added Hanging Heaton to the impressive list of sides they have beaten which already includes First Division Idle and Farsley plus Second Division promotion challengers Spen Victoria.

He took five for 24 in ten excellent overs of seam bowling as the Batley side collapsed from 91 for none to 175 all out in a rain-affected match which was completed a day later than scheduled.

The match was evenly poised when Hanging Heaton resumed on their overnight score of 105 for four in reply to Old Lane's total of 213.

But former Yorkshire wicketkeeper Ismail Dawood (58) and skipper Alan Mynett (19) - had already been dismissed by Khan the night before.

He continued where he left off when he dismissed frontline batsmen Nick Whitehill and Bandulla Don.

Then Kamran Siddique (2-5) and Mohammed Hanif (2-21) chipped in with wickets to spark big celebrations among the Lane players.

Siddique claimed the wicket which clinched the victory, when he had Farhan Khan caught behind by Imran Mirza.

Earlier, a fourth-wicket stand of 117 between Nahim Ashraf (73) and Mohammad Hanif (46) helped Lane recover from 38 for three to post a challenging score.

Nick Summerscales had ripped out the top three Lane batsmen before Chris Schofield took the wickets of Ashraf and Hanif. Thilan Thushara cleared out the lower order with five for 42.

Old Lane now face Woodlands at Wagon Lane on August 27 in the final.

The reigning Bradford League champions beat the current cup holders Pudsey Congs in their semi-final to reach a record-equalling fourth successive final.

Three weeks before the first team bid for glory, Old Lane Seconds face East Bierley at Pudsey Congs' Britannia Ground in the final of the Priestley Shield.

Amir Rahim was their man of the match in the semi-final at Ewart Street, taking six for nine as Great Horton were dismissed for 97.

Opener Mohammad Daud battled hard to make 44 before being last man out, and Asif Mughal's 29 was the only other double-figure score, but their last eight wickets fell for just 16 runs once Rahim got to work.

Numan Ahsan took two early wickets when Old Lane batted but they were guided home by an unbroken stand of 73 between Haqueeq Siddique (35no) and Fahid Rehman (33no).

Bierley are through to their third successive Shield final after defeating Woodlands by two wickets.

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