DECENT weather brought out the best in teams batting first in A Division of the Dales Council League, with the average score being 223.

Woodhouse led the way with 266 at Station Road, Usman Shakir 60 and Kashif Iqbal taking 5-66.

Despite 79 from home skipper Matthew Waller, luckless Drighlington fell 28 runs short on 238 (Tahir Iqbal 5-81).

Farnley Hill were next best with 227-5 at Gledhow, with Elliot Clough making 100 not out and John Crowther 80, Leeds Sikh falling to a fifth straight defeat when they replied with 101.

At Roundhay Oval, Bradford Moor made a challenging 214-9 (Asif Mahmood 59, Sunil Suskandla 6-70) but an unbeaten 114 from Faisal Abid helped New Wortley to 215-6, knocking Moor off the summit.

Halifax Direct scored 209-9 (Hassan Patel 56no) at Karmand before Muhammad Iqbal's 5-28 helped dismiss Cookridge for 134, extending Direct's unbeaten run to 12 matches.

The best match was at Daleside Road, where Pudsey Congs made 199 (Mani Amin 87, Ismail Nazir 58, Uzmat Munir 5-40) but 68 from Kamran Ali was the key to Thornbury's one-wicket win.

For the league's highest score of the day, however, one has to go to C Division, where Shipley Providence made 271-8 (Sharan Ramesh 61, Basharat Mehmood 52) before dismissing home side Baildon for 183, of which promising youngster Aston Dalladay made 71.

In contrast, Farsley only made 109 at Clariant, with Andrew Kirkwood taking 6-45, but leaders Morley fell six runs short on 103 to drop to second as Farsley took over at the top.

Halifax Direct B moved into third after making 215-5 (Nazakhat Hussain 109no) and then holding hosts Caribbean B to 201-8 (Hasan Khan 50).

Great Horton Park Chapel made 164-6 at Haycliffe Lane before dismissing Cookridge C for 73, with Perry Howarth taking 6-38.

In B Division, Savile Stars are now the sole leaders after scoring 202-8 at Sands Lane (Sharaiz Khan 54) and then castling for Caribbean for 124.

At High Royds, Baildon's 133 (Miraj Khan 51) proved too much for Crompark (121), who dropped to second, while Pudsey St Lawrence (178-5) triumphed at Laisterdyke against Thornbury (175, Asim Yasin 67).

At Smithy Lane, Leeds Sikh (195-7, Kanwardeep Singh 52no) were three-wicket winners over Cookridge (194), while even closer was the contest between Adel (157, Matthew Skelton 5-52) and Shipley Providence TPE (147, Jonny Denton 76, Ross Booth 6-36).