PACE bowler Matthew Simpson celebrated his best figures in the Bradford League as Bradford & Bingley ended their four-match losing run in the league with a dramatic 41-run victory over New Farnley.

Prospects looked bleak for Bingley at the tea interval after poor a batting performance saw them dismissed for 110 with only four batsmen reaching double figures and 27 extras being top scorer.

However, Simpson, supported by overseas slow left-arm bowler Noman Ali, turned the match on its head with a hostile spell of quick bowling as the visitors were shot out for 69.

Simpson, who proudly claimed seven wickets for 36 in 14.5 overs while Ali took 3-9 in nine, said the Bingley players thought they had a good chance of winning despite their low total.

He said: “It was one of those wickets where there was a little bit of juice. The ball was nipping about a bit.

“We knew if we bowled in the right areas it would come right for us. Even at the end of the innings it was swinging. It was turning for Noman Ali as well.

“There was also enough in the wicket to bowl a few short balls and everyone knows I like to bowl a short one.”

New Farnley lost their first two wickets for 20 to Simpson, but there was no real cause for alarm as they pursued their modest target until Ali joined the attack and took two wickets in his first over, including the dangerous Nick Walker to leave the visitors struggling on 34-4.

They lost four more wickets for 13 runs as the game took a dramatic turn and, at 48-8, there was no way back.

Simpson identified the key wicket as being that of New Farnley skipper Mark Lawson.

The former Yorkshire leg spinner had earlier taken 6-30 in 13 overs with some lively seam bowling, supported by Nick Johnson with 3-14.

Lawson was seventh out at 47 and Simpson said: “He hit me for six and indicated he would try to do it again so I bowled the next one a bit quicker and wider. He was a bit slow on it and he pulled it to deep mid-on. That was the key wicket. He was the player who could have won it.”

Simpson believes this win can kick-start Bingley’s season. “We haven’t been playing well,” he said, “but we have the ability in the team and I think we can push on from here and climb the table.”

Disappointed Lawson, in his first season at New Farnley, said: “We threw ten points away and missed the chance to climb away from the bottom.

“The wicket was a little bit tacky and the ball seamed around, but it wasn’t unplayable either. Credit Matthew Simpson – he bowled well.”