SALTAIRE took another large step towards promotion from JCT600 Bradford League Division Two by thrashing bottom club Windhill.

Second-placed Saltaire made the day’s highest score of 354-5 in their 286-run victory and opener Tinashe Gomwe led the way with 165.

He struck 11 sixes and 17 fours and was joined in an opening stand of 181 by Rashid Ayub (78), and their good work was built on by skipper Adrian Monk, who made a rapid 55, and overseas player Israr Ullah (33).

Windhill were dismissed for just 68 in reply, with Adeel Ashraf taking 5-26 and Mohammed Munir 4-11.

Leaders Undercliffe moved closer to securing their return to the top flight with a 57-run win over Baildon, overseas player Nawaz Sardar hitting 54 and following up with 3-31 in a good all-round performance.

Matthew Crowther top-scored for Undercliffe with an unbeaten 66 in their 232-9, Hamid Khan (43) and Zeeshan Qasim (37) also making valuable contributions as skipper Simon Bailey (4-53) and Waqas Maqsood (4-69) were the pick of the Baildon bowlers.

Bailey was top-scorer with 35 in the reply of 175-9, young spinner Amir Hussain adding to his growing wicket haul with 3-54.

There was a tight finish at Brighouse, where the home side suffered a four-run defeat against Great Horton.

Naeem Khan’s unbeaten 83 helped Great Horton to 183, despite the efforts of Tahir Khan (5-36) and Umar Salim (4-30).

Four players scored over 30 for Brighouse – Mohammed Rafiq (33),Umar Salim (32), Fakhar Hussain (33) and Zafar Jadoon (33) – but they fell agonisingly short of their target as Samad Rehman (3-22) and Sadaqat Zaman (3-44) sealed Great Horton’s win.

Gomersal’s openers Graham Hilton (85no) and Adam Greenwood (59) shared a stand of 107, which set their side on course for a seven-wicket win over neighbours Spen Victoria.

Spen made 191-9 when they batted first, with George Deegan (40) and former Gomersal skipper Rob Burton (30) being their top-scorers. Former Spen man Joel Pollard was Gomersal’s best bowler with 3-31.

Mohammad Zahid (5-11) and Wajid Hussain (5-32) bowled Idle to a 91-run win over Bowling Old Lane. The duo dismissed Old Lane for 102 when they replied to Idle’s 193-2.

Rugby league player Will Sharp (59), Simon Curry (47), Nik Cumming (43no) and Chris Wynd (43) all batted soundly for Idle.