Skipper Jonathan Wilson praised the contribution of Alex Stead and Alex Lees as Lightcliffe gained their first league win of the season – by 26 runs – against fellow promoted side Saltaire.

Stead, in his second season back at his home club after successful spells at Bradford & Bingley and Pudsey St Lawrence, and Yorkshire second-team player Lees shared a second-wicket stand of 204, which enabled Lightcliffe to post what proved to be a winning 239-2.

Stead scored 122 in 120 balls, hitting three sixes and 12 fours before he was run out at 221, while new boy Lees hit seven fours in his unbeaten 81.

The pair came together at 17 following the dismissal of another new signing, former Gomersal opener Andy Gorrod, and the partnership blossomed. Stead, in particular, put the Saltaire attack to the sword.

Wilson said: “We are happy with our first league win of the season but it was difficult early on and the wicket was seaming about in the first 15 overs.

“Saltaire were bowling well but we knew if we had wickets in hand we could get after their attack.

“Alex Lees shows a lot of maturity for a young player, while Alex Stead showed what a good player he is in terms of his attacking prowess.”

Lightcliffe’s total presented a formidable challenge but Saltaire made a steady start against a home attack that was depleted when former Yorkshire second-team all-rounder Charlie Roe-buck, now with Durham, had to leave the field with a back injury in his third over.

That left Lightcliffe’s spin trio Chris Greenwood, overseas player Suleman Khan and Josh Wheatley to do most of the work – how many other league sides can boast three frontline spinners?

Greenwood took the first two wickets, trapping openers Farhan Khan and Irfan Amjad (40) lbw and finished with 4-36 before Tabbi Bhatti, back at Saltaire from Baildon, and Fahid Rehman, the scorer of 1,000 runs last season, gave the visitors a genuine chance of victory with a third-wicket stand of 76.

However, it swung Light-cliffe’s way when Wheatley dismissed both batsmen in the 38th over, trapping Bhatti lbw for 52 before bowling Rehman for 35.

Those two body blows put Lightcliffe’s target beyond Saltaire’s reach but new overseas player Nawaz Sardar, from Undercliffe, guided the visitors to a fourth batting point with an aggressive unbeaten 50 off 40 balls as Saltaire finished on 213-7.

Wilson said: “We had control of the game after those two wickets in Josh Wheatley’s over. Even before then they needed six or seven an over, but after that we bowled three or four tight overs, which meant they needed nine or ten an over.”

Saltaire skipper Ijaz Khan said: “Where we went wrong was not so much in the batting, but in the last four or five overs of their innings – they scored 20 or 30 too many. We didn’t bowl those last four or five overs well, but we bowled well early on without luck.

“We came up a bit short today, but overall I am very positive about the start we have made to the season.”