OXENHOPE, who were without a number of regulars, gave a much-improved performance at a cold and windy Luddendenfoot in the Foster's Halifax League, only going down by three wickets in the last over of the Division One clash.

Joe Ousey (42) and Lewis Hopkinson (45) added 65 for the fourth wicket but a clutter of wickets meant that the visitors were reduced to 160-8, with recalled veteran Tony Ousey being left in partnership with young Ben Addison for the final ten overs.

Addison made 18 and Ousey 37 not out to help the score to 239-9.

Fresh from their success with the bat, the pair opened the bowling and restricted the early scoring, with Ousey taking the only wicket as Joel Cleary (64) and in-form 17-year-old Isaac Baldwin (73) put on 120.

Things got worse for Oxenhope when skipper Duncan Tetley had to leave the field with a suspected broken thumb following a fierce caught and bowled chance.

Ousey then displayed fitness that his physique belies to come back and bowl a second spell, taking three more wickets, along with two from Craig Bartlett, to put his side in with a chance as the overs ticked down.

Left with seven to score off the last over, the home side made light work of it with two fours to snatch victory.

The departure of Cleary and Ollie Hemingway (35) in successive deliveries set up a tight finish but George Ashton (25no) and skipper Gareth Swain (23no) took ten off the first two balls of the last over to finish it.

Clayton won the basement battle at Outlane, who were dismissed for 129 in reply to 223-4, which included 76 from Joe Brown.

At the top, Queensbury kept up the pressure on SBCI with a 129-un victory at Low Moor.

A club record 157-run opening partnership between Scott Osborne (99) and stand-in skipper Jamie Priestley (57), backed up by 40 from Tom Watson, took Queensbury to an impressive 259-8 on the spacious Low Moor ground.

The loss of Gareth Harrison to Joel Metcalfe off the first ball of the innings heralded a regular procession of batsmen as spinners Girdev Singh (6-61) and Amjad Ali (3-44) wrapped up the home innings for 130.

Opener Andy Croasdale was a lone beacon for Moor with an impressive 56 before falling to Singh.

Division Two title favourites Bridgeholme (129 points) romped to a ten-wicket home win over Denholme Clough (104) as only five points now separate the three clubs below them.

Mohammed Jamil (56) and Adil Hanif (36) were the only visiting batsmen to offer resistance as Clough made 121, Bobby Fielden (69no) and James Hudson (47no) knocking off the runs in 17 overs.

Second-placed Cullingworth (109 points) lost again, making 116-8 in reply to home side Wibsey Park Chapel's (104) 153-9.

Steve Welch took 4-56 and Luke Taylor 4-60 for Cullingworth, Welch (32) and Billy Whitford (31) putting on 56 for their first wicket, but they collapsed from 56-0 to 64-3 and 80-3 to 87-8.

However, Cullingworth have played 16 matches to Denholme Clough's 15 and Wibsey's 14.

In the Premier Division, Jer Lane tightened their grip on a second successive title with 12 points at Bradshaw.

Mick Hustler's side have a lead of more than 20 points with four games left, although they were given a real scare by their relegation-threatened hosts.

Jer were in deep trouble at 71-6 as home skipper Adam Buckley (5-52) and Ricky Beaumont made inroads but they finished on 151, with Johnny Lister making 41.

Lister (3-30), Sam Wilson (4-36) and Aiden Winnard (2-24) then ran through Bradshaw, who were dismissed for 97.

Triangle continued their much-improved form by overhauling visitors Thornton's 284-8, which included an unbeaten 117 from Ross Soames.

Opener Nathan Madden made 137 off 121 balls to help Triangle to a three-wicket win, putting on 175 for the first wicket with Neil Uttley (66) before Greg Soames (4-64) helped claim a couple of bowling points in a losing cause for Thornton.