THE full line-up for Saturday’s Gordon Rigg League Cup finals has been confirmed after the completion of league stage.
Victories for Pudsey St Lawrence and Townville confirmed their places in the Premier Division final at Tofts Road, while the thrilling four-way battle in Division One’s East Section saw Birstall come out on top.
Birstall, who had a crushing 10-wicket win over Ossett, will now host West Section winners Pudsey Congs on Saturday.
Jer Lane v Sandal was already confirmed as the Division Two final last week while Altofts and Rodley will battle it out for the Division Three honours.
Pudsey St Lawrence made sure of top spot in the Premier Division’s West Section with a comfortable seven-wicket win over Cleckheaton.
The Saints put Cleckheaton into bat and the decision was rewarded as they bowled them out for 158. Opener Ian Carradice (46) was top scorer as leg spinner Archie Scott picked up 3-37.
St Lawrence cruised to victory with opener Mark Robertshaw making an unbeaten 83 in victory.
New Farnley finished second after rounding off their programme with a five-wicket win over Morley. Paceman Andrew Brewster set up the victory by taking 4-24 as Morley were dismissed for 131.
Steve Bullen made an unbeaten 46 to take his tally of runs to 411 – a figure battled only by his skipper Lee Goddard, who made 30 to finish with 428. Off spinner David Nebard took 3-33 for Morley, who finished without a win.
Townville made sure of topping the East Section with a four-wicket win at Methley.
On-loan Muhammad Bilal took 3-14 and was backed up by Rizwan Ali (3-21) as Methley were bowled out for 107.
Only Marcus Walmsley, with a determined 51, came to terms with the testing batting conditions.
Townville did not find the going any easier and lost six wickets before sealing victory. Harry Warwick’s determined 50 was key to their success as Charlie McMurran picked up 3-28 for Methley.
Hanging Heaton finished eight points behind Townville on 126 after securing a five-wicket win at Bradford & Bingley.
Left-arm spinner Callum Bethel picked up 4-33 as Bradford & Bingley made 172-9 when they batted first. Yasir Abbas (54) and Matthew Duce (44) were the pick of the home batsmen.
Skipper Ben Kohler-Cadmore hit an unbeaten 52 and Nick Connolly made 45 as Hanging Heaton eased to their target.
Wrenthorpe ended their season in the same way that they started it – with a win. They bowled out Batley for 116 before knocking off the runs with six wickets down.
Skipper Jordan Sleightholme (3-19) and Matthew Race (3-34) took the bowling honours for Wrenthorpe as only Abdul Wahid (43) offered real resistance.
Arjun Ramkumar (44no) helped Wrenthorpe to their victory target, despite the efforts of Imran Mahboob (3-36).
Low scores were the order of the day in the three key games that finally determined the outcome of the closely fought Division One East Section, where the top four were separated by just four points at the start of play.
Three of them, Birstall, East Bierley and Carlton bagged a maximum 20 points while Gomersal, who started the day as leaders, drew a blank.
Birstall bowled out a weakened Ossett side for just 67 with Charlie Orme taking 4-12 against the club he used to captain. Openers Eric Austin (30no) and Josh Haynes (24no) guided Birstall to a 10-wicket win and top spot.
They finished on 94 points, one more than East Bierley, who recorded a comfortable eight-wicket win at Keighley.
Second team skipper Ross Monaghan (56) and Danny Cross (45no) shared a second wicket stand of 107 as the home side’s score of 126 was overhauled. Cross had earlier taken 3-14 with his left-arm spin.
A day that started full of hope for Gomersal ended in deflation as they suffered a nine-wicket defeat. They might have realised it was not going to be their day when opener Graham Hilton pulled a hamstring.
His injury was followed by a batting collapse which saw Gomersal bowled out for 86, as Daniel White (4-18) and Spencer Hunt (3-5) got to work.
White followed up his bowling exploits by making an unbeaten 42 as he and Daniel Ford (34no) steered Carlton home in 16.1 overs to secure third place.
Bankfoot openers James Lee (73) and Hisan Ahmad (40) shared an opening stand of 90 which helped their side post 184-7 in their easy win over Hartshead Moor.
Opener Craig Field made 56 for Hartshead Moor and their last three wickets all fell to run outs as they were bowled out for 130, Andrew Stothart taking 3-25.
The game between West Section winners Pudsey Congs and Baildon was abandoned due to Covid-19 precautions, as was the match featuring Division Two’s West Section table-toppers Jer Lane and Bowling Old Lane.
Sandal put down a marker for next week’s final with an impressive nine-wicket win over their closest East Section challengers Spen Victoria.
Matthew Westwood finished agonisingly on 99 not out after an unbroken second wicket stand of 185 with Danny Riley (87no) carried Sandal passed the visitors’ score of 214.
Westwood’s innings contained 16 fours, while Riley hit five sixes and nine fours as the Spen Victoria bowlers were made to suffer.
Spen’s innings featured key contributions from Abid Awain (61), Adam Ahmed (52) and Adal Islam (35). Sam Scott made another important contribution for Sandal with 4-26.
Buttershaw St Paul’s batsman Jack Seddon smashed 102 from just 41 balls to propel his side to a 64-run win over East Ardsley.
Seddon hit 12 sixes and five fours as 92 of his runs came in boundaries. He totally dominated a fifth-wicket partnership of 101 with Robert Smith, who contributed just 10.
Kevin McDermott (51), Jonathan Burston (38) and Jamie Robson (33no) helped swell the total to 279-7, which proved too big a challenge for East Ardsley as they were bowled out for 215.
Simon Tucker (68) was their top scorer as Dharmesh Mistry picked up 4-47.
Northowram Fields and Hopton Mills both registered their first wins in their last match. Northowram Fields defeated Scholes by 75 runs while Mills beat Hunslet Nelson by 83 runs.
Kyle Welsh was the second batsman in the division to finish unbeaten on 99. His innings contained five sixes and 11 fours as he helped Northowram Fields to a score of 228-4. Charlie Holt-Conway (42) and Louis Cockburn (39) gave good support.
Craig Wood was another batsman in a hurry. The Scholes captain struck 10 sixes and seven fours while making 92 from just 41 balls as his side were dismissed for 153.
Hopton Mills owed their success to a good batting performance. Mark Ashton (64), Chris Scott (49) and Ashley Mackareth (40) guided them to a challenging 266-7.
Michael Carroll (3-28) and Oliver Ramsay (3-24) made sure that Mills kept a firm grip on the game as Hunslet Nelson were dismissed for 185, Patrick Hinchliffe making 39.
Altofts made sure of finishing top of Division Three’s East Section after defeating Rodley - the side they will meet in next week’s final – by 81 runs in their inter-divisional fixture.
Danny Eden returned impressive figures of 5-19 and Joshua Hen-Boisen 3-20 when Rodley were bowled out for 139 in reply to the Altofts total of 220-8.
Harry Wilkinson (59) and Ben Walsh (41) were their top scorers while Bailey Wilson (3-26) was the best Rodley bowler.
Rodley’s defeat could have opened the door for Crossbank Methodists to take top spot in the West Section, but they suffered a three-wicket loss at the hands of Adwalton.
Shoaib Rehman took 4-18 as Adwalton bowled out Crossbank Methodists for 121, before easing to victory.
Oulton were another team finishing on a high note. They said farewell to the league with a 59-run win over East Leeds as they came second in the East Section.
Jack Andrews delivered a tonic with the ball as he took 5-30 as East Leeds were all out for 159 in reply to Oulton’s 218-9. Rajat Ali (61) and Ben Wilkinson (41) were the best of the East Leeds batsmen.
Oulton built their match-winning total around the efforts of Matt Boucher (58), Will Harrison (40) and Ryan Healey (34). Zahid Tarvas was the best East Leeds bowler with 4-34.
Brighouse bowler Parvaise Khan returned the day’s best bowling figures of 6-19 as he helped his side to a 77-run win over Heckmondwike & Carlinghow.
Khurram Maqsood’s unbeaten 75 was the key component of the Brighouse score of 207-9 as George Crowther took 4-39. The Heckmondwike & Carlinghow reply of 130 included 59 from Fahad Imam.
Great Preston skipper Oli Baron signed off with an unbeaten 90 as he steered his side to a nine-wicket win over Gildersome & Farnley Hill. Baron shared an unbroken second wicket stand of 115 with David Illingworth (27no).
Illingworth had earlier taken 3-27 as he and Kai Watson (4-58) helped restrict Gildersome & Farnley Hill to 157. Richard Bedford and Gethin Clarke both made 32.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here