THE match of the day in Dales Council League Division A was between joint leaders Halifax Direct and Shipley Providence, and it proved a nail-biter.

Batting first, the visitors from Shipley made 142, the in-form Johnny Thompson hitting 64 as Mohammed Iqbal returned 6-24.

In reply, Halifax did not have things all their own way, despite Mohammed Chaand scoring 69 and Farhan Ali an unbeaten 30, and won by two wickets win to move four points clear.

New Wortley and Leeds Sikh share second place. Wortley (136) completed a 38-run win at home to Tong Park Esholt, who could manage only 98 in reply, whereas Leeds Sikh (150-7, Venu Dontula 52) completed a three-wicket victory following their visit to Savile Stars (146).

Pudsey St Lawrence (122-5) continue to be upwardly mobile after recording a five-wicket win at home to Baildon (121). Last season's champions Pudsey Congs' woes continued, this time suffering a 100-run defeat at home to the hands of Farnley Hill, for whom Chris Sowden hit 70 of their 189-6.

The final fixture in this section between the division's bottom two of Adel and Cookridge turned out to be a terrific encounter.

Cookridge, batting first, made 227-9, with Tahseen Suleman scoring 94 and Janghir Gulzar 53.

But basement boys Adel, led by Umar Malik (70) and a unbeaten 46 from Sam Pawson, notched a stunning victory by one wicket.

Runaway Division B leaders Bradford Moor showed they are in no mood to slow down in their pursuit of top-flight cricket, this time recording a two-wicket win (205-8) at Drighlington-Whitehall (203), where Murtaza Ali Abbas starred again for Moor, firstly returning 6-41, including a hat-trick, and then hitting 63 to help steer his team to victory.

There was a shock for Division C leaders Crompark, who, despite compiling a useful 190 (Ali Malik 60), failed to hold off Thornbury B, who claimed an exciting 191-9 (Usman Hafiz 75, Kash Malik 5-31) to triumph by one wicket.