YEADON’S reign as Jack Hampshire Cup holders is over.

The Bradford League Division Two strugglers, who won the silverware by beating Birstall 22 months ago, lost to Jer Lane in a low-scoring quarter-final at Horton Bank Top.

Jer, chasing promotion in Yeadon’s division, won the toss and put them in.

The visitors were then dismissed for 95, leaving 13.1 overs unused.

It seemed a formality for the hosts, but they were reduced to 36-5 before two small but valuable stands helped them to a three-wicket win in the 23rd over of their reply.

“We are disappointed but we made a game of it and it could have gone either way at one stage,” admitted Yeadon skipper Gareth Lee.

“We probably lost it in the first half, where we gave it away a little bit, but another 50 runs would have made a very good game of it.

“We were missing a few – one to a wedding – but the lads who came in did a very good job, such as Pat Parker, who opened the bowling, so I can’t complain.

“It is a virtually impossible to get the same side out two days running but it is a shame that we lost, especially in the manner that we have, because we are the holders and wanted to do well.”

Jer captain Raqeeb Younis was probably glad that his side weren’t chasing 20 more runs, let alone 50.

He admitted: “I was hoping that we would be a bit more convincing than that, but I think that the boys were a bit complacent.

“They (Yeadon) did bowl well – the wicket was doing a bit but not overly – and we played a few loose shots, but I was hoping for a more comfortable victory chasing 95.”

Younis added: “Before tea, we fielded well, bowled well, took our catches and stopped a lot of runs.

“Our bowling was immaculate – everyone bowled tight lines – and the fielding was exceptional, but I was a little bit worried after the start that we got when batting.

“They were missing a few but they still have some match-winners in their side, while we lost our opening batsman an hour before the start to food poisoning, so Jonathan Waddington stepped in for us to help out.

“Apart from that we were at full-strength, but Amjid Khan is suffering from an injury he got on Saturday, Ibrar (Younis) has an ankle injury, and it was the first time that Osama (Ahmad) has bowled in four weeks and he is suffering with a knee injury.

“We were a bit like a crippled XI by the end. There are some good sides left (Bowling Old Lane, Northowram Fields and either East Ardsley or Buttershaw St Pauls) but I am confident that we can win it now that we are in the semi-finals.

“We have a good all-round side, we bat a long way down, we have plenty of bowling options and the only thing that can hinder us is our complacency.”

On a wicket that was lively when bowling from the pavilion end, Yeadon started well, with Lee, looking strong off his legs, and Andy Pickering putting on 39 for the first wicket.

Lee, who had hit Ahmad for two the previous ball off a free hit, then tried to carve the same bowler into the outfield, but the delivery got too big on him and he could only sky the ball to gully, where Cosmond Walters took a simple catch.

The next over, Pickering holed out at mid-off, and the collapse had started.

None for 39 became 53-5 when Imran Mirza took a superb catch low to his right to dismiss fellow keeper Gulsheraz Ahmed, and Yeadon needed a stand of 17 for the last wicket between Andrew Robertson (24no) and Darren Lyons (five) to boost their score into the nineties.

Jer chanced their arm from the off when batting, with the first ball of the innings from Muhammad Z Khan being edged by Farakh Hussain and bursting through the hands of Nadeem Hanif in the slips.

Keeper Ahmed soon took two catches, however, to reduce the home side to 27-2, and a direct hit run out by Robertson and a first-ball lbw for Mirza reduced Jer to 36-5 as Yeadon began to believe.

Walters dampened the visitors’ enthusiasm, however, with two fours and a six off successive Parker deliveries before holing out at long on next ball.

Lee finally came on in the 17th over and had a caught behind dropped, before taking the seventh wicket when Raqeeb Younis spooned the ball to extra cover.

But Ibrar Younis finished things off in the grand manner by planting Lee high over midwicket for six.

Bowling Old Lane eased into the last four after thumping Crossflatts by 95 runs.

Imran Malik smashed a stunning 111 off 81 balls as Bowling racked up 258-4 in their 40 overs, before Zeeshan Haider's 5-39 and Gurdev Singh's 3-9 saw Flatts reduced to 163-9 in reply.

Crossflatts opener Joe Hicks carried his bat for 56 not out.

Bowling Old Lane will now host Jer Lane in the semi-finals on July 18.

Northowram Fields beat Great Preston by 70 runs in their quarter final, after Ben Grech struck 136 not out in their 264-3.

Preston battled hard but got nowhere near, bowled out for 194 in reply.

Northowram will go up against either Buttershaw St Paul's or East Ardsley on July 18, once the pair's delayed quarter-final is played.