Bowling Old Lane continued their quest for Division One cricket with a winning draw and four points at Windhill but it wasn't all plain sailing in a match reduced to 25 overs per side.

Windhill skipper Dean Skillicorn won the toss and had no hesitation in putting the visitors in to bat.

His tactics of grabbing every point available from now until the end of the season means that losing is out of the question - even if it means hanging on for a losing draw.

His side are uncomfortably close to the bottom two places - and of course at the end of the season one club will be voted out of the league.

But on Saturday, Windhill were in an attacking mood.

Old Lane began brightly and Haqueq Siddique was their main man, hitting 39, which included three sixes and three fours.

He lost fellow opener Ghanfar Rehmann (20), who was caught on the boundary edge by Skillicorn off Darren Drake, but was always on top of the bowling.

He hit two straight sixes off Drake and then went to punish Skillicorn, who had brought himself into the attack. But after pulling him for two fours, he then holed out to Kevin Dewhirst, who raced off the boundary edge to take a fine catch at the second attempt.

Skillicorn then struck again by getting rid of the dangerous Amjid Khan with a brilliant, instinctive caught and bowled.

Imran Mirza scored 26 but Old Lane wickets began to tumble with Skillicorn bowling visitng skipper Zubair Najeeb for a duck and Leon Harber picking up three late, cheap wickets.

But 139 for nine looked a formidible enough total.

Windhill promoted Dewhirst to an opening role and he responded by driving Mohammed Siddique for six in the first over. But Siddique got his revenge when the batsman played on and was dismissed for 15.

The division's leading wicket-taker, though, was having problems with the soggy footholds and was no-balled on several occasions.

Tony Jones and Simon Curry pushed the scoring along and Windhill looked well capable of overhauling Old Lane's total. But Curry was run out after a flurry of scoring for 30 and Gary Greenwood was stumped charging down the wicket at Siddique.

Khan replaced Najeeb and immedately put a brake on the scoring.

After Jones was bowled by Siddique for 39, Windhill never looked like reaching their target and finished 16 runs short with three wickets remaining.

Najeeb said: "I am happy with the four points. It keeps us right up their in contention. At one stage, Windhill were really pushing us but now we are looking forward to taking on Esholt next week."