Mirfield took another significant step on the road to Division One survival on Saturday.

Inspired by a disciplined 98 not out from Guy Welton, they made a challenging 196 for eight and then, thanks to accurate and persevering 18-over stints by Neil Parkinson and skipper Mark Fairburn, they claimed a winning draw.

And it could easily have been a win were it not for stubborn tail-end resistance from Darren and Gavin Lyons.

Right-hander Darren, who played some pleasing shots past an aggressively-set field, made 29 off 28 balls, including five fours, and his brother, left-hander Gavin, ended up 13 not out off 55 balls. Fairburn had mixed emotions afterwards, saying: "If someone had offered me a winning draw I would have taken it, but it was disappointing that we didn't win in the end."

Idle were 94 for eight in the 33rd over, but survived the remaining 59 minutes for the loss of only one further wicket, and that when Darren Lyons chased a wide one.

Chiefly because of mid-season defections, Mirfield are only fielding about six genuine first-teamers these days, so opener Welton's effort was even more important. It took him until the 41st over to reach his 50, but he hit the ball so effectively after that that he came within a well-placed shot of a 100 in 50 overs.

Aziz was out to Lawrence's first delivery, spooning the ball against the spin to Idle skipper Mark Gilliver at mid-off, who also pouched a sharp slip chance to dismiss Toby Ibbotson.

Darren Lyons let a well-hit Welton shot slip through his hands at mid-on when he was 58, and the former Nottinghamshire player took three boundaries off the last over of the innings bowled by Gulsheraz Ahmed, including a straight six.

Welton, who survived a very close call for lbw early on against Dewhurst, hit 11 fours and three sixes, reaching his 50 off 101 balls in 140 minutes.

He batted for 2hr 56min in all, adding 41 with Aziz and 65 for the sixth wicket with Matthew Harrison.

Openers Gilliver and Harvey Anderson added 42 for Idle before Anderson was caught at mid-off, and JP Yadav - after a fine 24-over spell with the ball - had his stumps disturbed by an excellent Parkinson delivery that came back through the gate.

Gilliver was caught off a skier when his patience ran out when he had made 32, and it was advantage Mirfield after Thompson and Nicklin were caught behind and Williams was bowled.

But, despite a field that included four slips and two gullies, Mirfield couldn't prise out the last two wickets.

Gilliver said: "We would have won the match if Steve Lawrence, who only bowled 4.2 overs because of a muscle spasm in his back, had been able to carry on bowling because the rest of the batsmen wouldn't have been able to cope with him. And we would also have won if I had batted through, but it was a very good point for us in the end."