SECOND-placed Saltaire are on the verge of returning to Division One at the first attempt following their six-wicket JCT600 Bradford League win over Spen Victoria.

Saltaire's 16-point victory means they are now 54 clear of third-placed Baildon with just three matches to play.

Leaders Undercliffe, who had a free date to prepare their ground for yesterday's Priestley Cup final, are already promoted.

Overseas player Israr Ullah took 4-31 and Amer Ayoub 4-36 as Spen Victoria were bowled out for 147, of which Peter Jackson was top scorer with 65 while Imran Patel made 31.

Saltaire cruised to their target in 25.2 overs thanks to Rashid Ayoub (54), Tinashe Gomwe (45) and Ullah (36).

Baildon beat bottom club Windhill by six wickets after bowling them out for only 47, with slow left-armer Mushtaq Ahmed taking 6-28 and Waqas Maqsood 4-16.

But it took Baildon 20.3 overs to reach their target and they lost four wickets in the process.

Hartshead Moor, who had won eight of their previous nine completed matches to lift them from ninth to fourth in the table, slipped to a 62-run defeat at Great Horton, for whom Naeem Khan produced an impressive all-round performance.

Khan top-scored with 74, supported by Majid Khan with 46 not out, as Great Horton totalled 220-5.

Naeem Khan then took 6-42 as Hartshead were bowled out for 158 to seal a 19-point win. Overseas player Fahad Ul-Haq (42) and Owen Brooke (40) were Hartshead's top scorers.

This was Great Horton's eighth win of the season – a huge improvement on the 2013 campaign, when they finished bottom without a single victory.

Two matches were not completed because of rain – Idle v Brighouse and Bankfoot v Bowling Old Lane.

Andrew Marshall took 7-41 as Bankfoot bowled out Old Lane for 170, Ahsan Butt top scoring with 40 while Amjid Hussain made 35.

Bankfoot replied with 126-7, Aaqib Uppal scoring 47 and Butt taking 3-6. But as Bankfoot had received 7.1 overs less than their opponents, the match was drawn, with Bankfoot taking nine points and Old Lane eight.

There was a similar situation at Idle where Brighouse made 156 in 34.3 overs, Mohammed Zahid taking 5-25 and Nik Cumming 3-48.

Idle reached 95-7 in 31 overs in reply with Johannes Van Ee taking 4-15. Both sides earned eight points from the drawn encounter.