DEFENDING champions Ciroc increased their lead at the top of Bradford & District Evening League Division One to three points by moving onto 15 points as they defeated Greenfield by 33 runs, while second-placed Buttershaw St Paul’s were surprisingly well beaten away at John Breare by eight wickets.

Ciroc batted first as Mohammad Bilal and Danish Hussain both had identical figures of 3-22 for Greenfield as they dismissed Ciroc for 148 with five balls of their 18 overs remaining.

None of the Ciroc batsmen went on to make a big score as Mehran Ibrahim (27) and Ishy Dawood (26) top scored for the visitors.

In reply, Greenfield fell 33 runs short ending on 115-9 as Mohammad Nadeem top scored with 24no and Amir Hussain being the pick of the Ciroc bowlers with 4-15.

Buttershaw St Paul’s recovered from 69-5 to end on 107-6 from their 16 overs at Westfield Lane, thanks to a late blast from Elliot Richardson (40no).

The only other significant contribution to their total was 24 from opener Kevin McDermott as all four bowlers in the John Breare attack bowled tidily.

An unbroken third-wicket partnership of 85 between Ben Waller (48no) and Tommy Henderson (29no) saw their side through to a comfortable victory with four overs left.

St Paul’s now drop to third place on 11 points as Crossflatts' victory at Denholme elevated them to second on 12 points.

Flatts amassed 180-8 from 18 overs with the main contributions coming from overseas Bright Njanji (54no) and Amjid Hussain (32).

Denholme made a spirited reply, finishing on 135-7 as Travis Nightingale top scored with 42.

The final game in Division One saw Undercliffe complete back-to-back victories with a six-wicket success over Raja’s.

Raja’s batting again let them down at they struggled to 85-6 from their 16 overs, despite the best efforts of Mohammed Saqib (36), as Zeeshan Qasim took 3-4.

Undercliffe had opener Abdul Wahid (51no) to thank for their victory as the recent winners of the Bradford League T20 competition, reached their target on 89-4 with just four balls to spare.

The victories for Undercliffe & John Breare saw them open up a two-point gap on seven points over Denholme & Raja’s on five points at the foot of the table.

Undefeated Great Horton Park Chapel retained top spot in Division Two with a six-wicket home win over second-placed Shelf at Ewart Street.

Shelf were bowled out for 108 in 17 overs thanks to fine spells of bowling from Alex Kennedy (4-12) and Oliver Challis 3-20) as Bilal Hameed top scored for the visitors with 24.

Opener Simon McDermott (50no) laid the foundations for the Park Chapel victory and Alex Kennedy chipped in with 20no as they ended on 113-4 with just three balls to spare as the sun again threatened to became a factor at Ewart Street.

Thornton replace Shelf in second spot on 13 points, just two points behind leaders Park Chapel, with an emphatic eight-wicket win against a nine-man Muff Field side at their Hill Top ground.

Scott Richardson (3-5) helped the home side dismiss the Sunnybank side for just 63 in 12.5 overs with Nasir Khan (21) the only batsman to offer any sort of resistance.

Opener Tom Clee (46no) saw Thornton end on 64-2 in just 7.2 overs.

Finally, congratulations to Cross Roads & Daisy Hill who this week managed to snatch victory from the jaws of victory as they recorded their first success of the season.

Two wickets apiece for Jack Martin and skipper Byron Greenwood had nine man Bradshaw in trouble at 37-4, but a 46-run partnership between opener Matthew Crowther (46) and James Thompson (32) helped in the away side's recovery to 96 all out from 13.1 overs, as stand-in wicketkeeper Danny Halstead took three catches and a stumping with Adam Swaine the pick of the bowlers taking 3-21.

Cross Roads, with the prolific overseas Alex Antoine for the second week in a row retiring on 53, cruised to their first win of the season for the loss of just four wickets from 13.3 overs.

However, the victory wasn’t enough to move Cross Roads from bottom spot which they now share with Muff Field & Bradshaw, all on five points.