Race for Gordon Rigg Bradford League final places heats up

The only confirmed match-up is in Division Two where Jer Lane will be at home to Sandal after their 112-run win over Northowram Fields.

And the only other team guaranteed a final place are Pudsey Congs in Division One, despite suffering their first defeat of the season against second-placed Bankfoot.

Pudsey St Lawrence and Townville remain the favourites to top their respective sections in the Premier Division competition.

St Lawrence had a comfortable 97-run win at Morley in the West Section, but Townville were made to battle for their four-wicket home East Section victory over Batley.

St Lawrence’s young all-rounder Archie Scott played a key role as they defeated Morley. After scoring an unbeaten 36 to give good support to top scorer Mark Robertshaw (50), the leg spinner took 5-13 as Morley crumbled to 65 all out.

New Farnley closed St Lawrence’s lead to 11 points after collecting a maximum 20 from their 133-run win over Wrenthorpe.

Skipper Lee Goddard set the tone for his side’s score of 227-7 with a knock of 87. Dan Hodgson chipped in with 32 as a total of 227-7 was posted. Jonathon Donnelly (3-37) and Sam Wigglesworth (3-57) were the pick of the visiting bowlers.

Wrenthorpe were soon in trouble when they batted and crumbled to 94 all out as left-arm spinner Sam Barraclough took 4-23.

New Farnley will be at home to Morley while Pudsey St Lawrence host Cleckheaton in next Saturday’s last round of games.

Batley, who inflicted Townville’s only East section defeat, gave them a hard time again. A score of 112 did not seem to pose a big challenge, but Townville lost six wickets before overhauling it.

Abdul Wahid’s battling 45 was the key feature of a Batley innings in which Conor Harvey took 4-20. Townville were indebted to an unbeaten 58 from Harry Clewett for seeing off the threat posed by Imran Mahboob (4-14).

Townville have a 10-point lead over Hanging Heaton, who beat Methley by 10 wickets. Only Marcus Walmsley (34) offered resistance as Methley were skittled out for 108 with Nick Bresnan taking 3-27 and James Byrne (3-34). Nick Connolly hit an unbeaten 76 as he dominated an unbroken opening stand of 110 with Gary Fellows.

Hanging Heaton face a trip to Bradford & Bingley while Townville have an away encounter at struggling Methley.

The most thrilling Premier Division clash of the day saw Cleckheaton beat Bradford & Bingley by one wicket with just three balls to spare.

Iain Wardlaw, who made a crucial 32 not out, hit the winning runs when he edged a four to third man. Wardlaw ensured that the earlier good work of Toby Booth (42) and Kris Ward (36) wasn’t squandered as Bradford & Bingley skipper Ed brown (4-32) threatened to turn the game in his side’s favour as they fought to defend a score of 186.

Brown had top scored for 37 in a Bingley innings which featured a promising knock of 35 from young Matthew Swallow. Left-arm spinner Andrew Deegan was the pick of the bowlers with 4-28.

Four teams are in contention for top spot in Division One’s East Section with just four points separating new leaders Gomersal and fourth-place Carlton.

Birstall produced one of the performances of the day to defeat previous leaders East Bierley by 121 runs. A fifth wicket stand of 154 between skipper Nick Kaye (90no) and Benedict Gundry (69) powered Birstall to 236-5. Alex Midgley was the most successful bowler with 3-63.

East Bierley were never in the hunt for victory as they subsided to 115 all out. Shoaib Baig (3-14) helped propel his side into second place, while East Bierley dropped to third.

Gomersal now lead by a point from Birstall after their convincing 133-run win over Ossett. Opener Liam Fletcher (71) and Andy Gorrod (62) powered Gomersal to 242-7 before Daniel Syme (4-29) and Chris Rhodes (3-16) helped dismiss Ossett for 109.

Carlton revived their hopes of making the final with an 85-run victory over Hartshead Moor in their inter-divisional fixture.

Big-hitting Jonathan Rudge struck six sixes in his unbeaten 65 which, along with Daniel White’s 57, helped Carlton to post a score of 189-8. Joe Wood picked up 3-44 for Hartshead Moor.

Arman Hussain (3-26), Nick Busby (3-33) and Farrouk Alam (3-4) joined forces to bowl out Hartshead Moor for 104.

In next Saturday’s final matches, Birstall host Ossett, Gomersal visit Carlton and East Bierley go to Keighley.

Bankfoot ended Pudsey Congs’ run of six straight wins when they defeated them by 59 runs. Sadly for James Lee’s side they cannot now prevent their opponents from reaching the final.

Daniel Colehan (41) and Josh Marsden (31) helped Bankfoot make 156-9 despite the determined efforts of Jacques Allen (4-27).

Congs were soon struggling in reply and were bowled out for 97 by Lee (3-17), Andrew Stothart (3-27) and Hisan Ahmad (3-13).

Keighley bowler James Wilmshurst took a hat-trick as he returned figures of 5-14 and was backed up by Ben Hemsley (4-13) as Keighley rolled over Baildon for 72 to complete a 120-run win.

Raees Hussain and Nathan Storton both made 36 in Keighley’s 192, while off spinner Simon Bailey impressed with 5-30 for the Jenny Laners.

Jer lane set up a Division Two final showdown with Sandal after securing top spot in the West section with a convincing 112-run win over Northowram Fields.

Openers Farakh Hussain (51) and Haseeb Rehman (54) laid the foundations for a total of 258 with an opening stand of 106. Kez Ahmed continued his good form with the bat despite the efforts of Joe Hough (4-26) and Todd Reeday (4-31).

Mohammed Jamal (4-39) and Zeeshan Qasim (3-10) helped Jer Lane restrict their rivals to 146 in reply.

Second-placed Buttershaw St Paul’s won by four wickets in a low-scoring encounter with Bowling Old lane.

Kamran Siddique took (4-19) against his old club and was backed up by James Sawyer (3-3) as Old Lane were dismissed for 73. St Paul’s didn’t find the going any easier as Saad Khan took 3-12, but James Robson (31no) saw them home.

In the only East Section game, Spen Victoria strengthened their grip on second place with a 51-run win over Hopton Mills.

Amjad Tariq (49) and Adil Islam (40) helped Spen make 181 despite the determined efforts of Chris Scott (4-22) and Oliver Ramsay (3-21). Mills were restricted to 130 in their innings with Islam (3-31) and Adam Ahmed (3-17) proving to be the best of the Spen bowlers.

The Sandal v Scholes and East Ardsley v Hunslet Nelson matches were abandoned due to Covid-19 precautions.

Rodley’s hopes of topping the West Section and reaching the Division Three have been dented by a two-wicket defeat at the hands of Adwalton.

Rodley looked to have set a challenging target when they made 244-8 in their 40 overs, but Adwalton weren’t daunted by the challenge and knocked off the runs with 11 balls to spare.

Will Cutt (58), Daniel Shaw (46) and Shoaib Rehman (30) spearheaded the successful run chase after Bailey Wilson (88), Robert Young (36) and Callum Postle (30) had led the way for Rodley.

Rodley’s lead is now down to six points after Crossbank Methodists bagged a maximum 20 for a nine-wicket win over Heckmondwike & Carlinghow.

Timmy Saghir took 4-22 and Imran Patel (4-11) as Heckmondwike & Carlinghow were skittled out for 47.

Next Saturday’s fixtures pit Rodley at home to East Section leaders Altofts while Crossbank Methodists are at hosts to Adwalton.

Altofts survived a scare against Great Preston as they recovered from 42-6 to record a one-wicket triumph. Elliot Carter (43) and Adam Perry (31) helped them edge past Great Preston’s 120 total.

Lee Russell (4-28) was the pick of the Altofts bowlers while David Robson (4-22) and Joshua Hen-Boisen (3-31) took the bowling honours for Altofts.

Oulton kept alive their hopes of sealing their last season in the league with a place in the final by securing a 52-run win over Brighouse.

Wicketkeeper Josh Neal made 46 as Oulton were made to work hard for their 127 as Sohail Hussain took 5-1. Brighouse also found batting difficult and were all out for 73 with Jonathan Anson taking 4-5.

Liam Pearson picked up 5-33 as Gildersome & Farnley Hill bowled out East Leeds for 84 to secure a 98-run win. Gethin Clarke was again in good form with the bat and made top score of 56 in Gildersome & Farnley Hill’s 182-8.