WITH Bradford Evening League Division One champions Ciroc ineligible for finals day this year due to disciplinary reasons, whoever finished second in Division One would play the runners up in Division Two, with the third-placed team in Division One playing the Division Two champions.

While the four teams involved in securing these places were already known (Crossflatts, Greenfield, Great Horton Park Chapel and Thornton), their finishing positions (and therefore the playing order on finals day) were still unknown going into the final week 14 of the season.

Crossflatts secured second spot with a three-wicket home victory over Buttershaw St Paul’s. Opener Kevin McDermott (51no), supported by James Brown (40), helped nine-man St Paul’s to a competitive 125-2 from their 16 overs.

After openers Billy Whitford (33) and Zahir Abbas (41) had laid the foundations for victory, Flatts almost came unstuck by retiring Whitford 'out' and then reversing their batting order. No one else managed to get into double figures as they stumbled over the line on 129-7, as Kevin McDermott took 3-13 for the visitors.

Crossflatts victory meant Greenfield had to settle for third place as their game against John Breare at the Karmand Centre was abandoned due to a serious injury to one of the Breare players before the game started when a double-glazed door fell on him.

The abandoned game also meant John Breare were relegated as both Denholme and Undercliffe won their final home games of the season.

Undercliffe had the most impressive victory of the day by beating champions Ciroc for the second time in three weeks.

Ciroc recovered from 28-3 thanks to a fourth-wicket partnership between Arslan Mahmood (38) and Shaban Raheem (24) and a late flourish of 19 runs in the final two overs to eventually finish on 123-7 from 16 overs.

The Intake Road openers Abdul Wahid (50no) and Abu Hurairah (26) put the home side on the road to victory with an opening partnership of 88 as they passed their target on 124-2 with five balls remaining.

Denholme looked odds-on for relegation a few weeks ago, but victories in their final three games of the season saw them cling onto to their top flight status on the final day of the season.

Their latest success came at home to bottom side Raja’s who were in no mood to let Denholme escape relegation easily.

The visitors from Park Avenue posted a par score of 90-6 from 16 overs on a slow pitch where runs were hard to come by.

The result was always in doubt until Adam Smith came in at number six and hit a quick fire 31 from 15 balls to tilt the game in Denholme’s favour.

Smith’s knock together with an earlier 23 from Andrew Wear secured the points for Denholme as they finished on 93-7 with two overs to spare as Adam Zahid (3-17) was the pick of the Raja’s bowlers.

In Division Two, Great Horton Park Chapel were crowned champions with a 34-run victory at Muff Field.

Simon McDermott (50no) and Danny Wilkins (43) saw the Ewart Street outfit to an impressive 148-3 from 16 overs.

The Sunnybank side managed a creditable 114-4 in reply as Shoaib Iqbal hit 50no from 32 balls and Oliver Challis took 3-23 for the champions.

Thornton finished just a point behind Park Chapel as they also ended a successful season with victory at home to fellow Halifax League outfit Bradshaw.

Tom Clee took 3-5 as the Hill Top side skittled out their visitors for just 69 in 11.3 overs.

However, Thornton were made to work hard for the points as they were reduced to 33-5 before overseas Johandre Bernard (21no) and Matthew Routh (14no) saw them home without further loss on 71-5 as Ricky Beaumont took 4-9.

The final game in Division Two saw Cross Roads and Daisy Hill visit third-placed Shelf and it was a pleasant return after 15 years to the old Shelf ground for Byron Greenwood where he had a prolific under 13 junior career.

It was like he had never been away, hitting an unbeaten 50 (his first of the season) as Cross Roads made a competitive 136-4 from 18 overs, with Adam Swaine (32no) and Tahir Datta (24) adding good support.

In reply, Shelf opener Umar Dawood was dropped on nought when he gave a relatively straight forward caught and bowled back to Andrew Smith.

Dawood made the Windhill side pay for that chance as he hit 47 with fellow opener Ali Maisum making 36 as Shelf raced to 109-1 in which they took 21 off one solitary Matty Marshall over.

However, Adam Swaine (3-24) and Byron Greenwood (2-15) saw nine-man Shelf collapse to 121-6 making it anyone’s game at that stage before Bilal Hamed (14no) and Absar Hussain (4no) passed the Cross Roads total with just six balls to spare.

Order of play on finals day at Great Horton Park Chapel’s Ewart Street ground on Monday, August 26 is: Great Horton Park Chapel v Greenfield (11am); Crossflatts v Thornton (1.30pm); winners of game one v winners of game two (4.30pm).