WHAT started out so promisingly for Yeadon on Saturday ended on a dismal note with defeat by Brighouse. This misery was compounded by a further defeat on Sunday in a 27 over thrash with Drighlington.

On Saturday they had looked in an excellent position to take all six points off leaders Brighouse after some superb batting from James Henry and Jake Wray had put them in the driving seat after an early collapse.

Naeem Khan guided Yeadon back on track with a fine innings despite being struck on the head and then Henry and Wray batted with great gusto to surprise Brighouse and give them an excellent score of 191-8. Henry finished with an unbeaten 61 and Wray made 35.

Unfortunately the pair had to rein it in a bit as Yeadon had only ten men, Anthony Gilks failing to appear after attending a wedding the previous day.

This left Henry having to curb his natural instincts and if the extra man had been there the score would no doubt have topped the 200 mark.

As it was Henry and Wray shared a stand of 86 for the seventh wicket.

Yeadon made a good start in reply but in the end the lack of the extra fielder was to cost them the game.

Khan picked up a couple of wickets when he first came on with Wray holding a juggling catch and then taking a stumping. The left-armer Khan then strung off a reel of maidens and Brighouse were preparing for the worst at 98-6.

John Roper replaced Chris Henry at the High Street end and then the fireworks started with Brighouse powering their way to victory with some big hitting as Roper took some severe punishment.

Brighouse were left needing 17 runs off the last four overs to win. They hit a six to tie the scores with two overs to go. A four struck off Khan's third ball of the penultimate over handed Brighouse a victory they had hardly looked like gaining.

How disappointed Yeadon's ten men must have been not just in the result but in their colleague's failure to show for what would have been a magnificent morale boosting win if it had been carried off.

Yeadon are hovering just above the bottom two and with one club going to be voted out of the league at the end of the season it is vital that players make every effort to commit themselves fully to the club.

On Sunday Yeadon lost out in a 27 over thrash against Drighlington. They looked to be in a reasonable position after dismissing Drighlington for 126, Khan taking 5-50 and Chris Henry 4-57.

After openers Jon Henry (16) and Naeem Khan (26) had given them a steady start things fell apart as spinner Andy Measey got to grips with the game. He returned 5-34 as Yeadon fell for 89 with only James Todd with 21 showing any further resistance.

Measey found great support from overseas player Mohtashim Ali who took 5-42.

Yeadon's Second Team had a seven wickets win at Gomersal where the home side was dismissed for 132.

Doing the main damage was Nick Darfield with a 5-49 return. Yeadon then knocked off the runs with Andrew Pickering leading the way with an unbeaten 51.