IT HAS been a long time coming, but Bingley Congs II have finally won.

The last time that they tasted success was at the beginning of last season, when they won twice in a row, but since then they have lost 19 successive completed matches in Division Two of the Craven League.

However, the seeds were sewn the previous week, when they topped 150, and perhaps that gave them confidence when they were chasing 168 for victory against previously unbeaten Skipton CI at Beckfoot Lane.

Jonny Teale took 4-26, Towhid Ali 2-26, Will Tarren 2-37 and Tony Teale 2-32 in CI’s innings.

Ali then made an unbeaten 36, backing up the efforts of Dave Hemsley (31) and Andy Blackburn (35) as Congs won by five wickets in the 34th over to move themselves up to fifth from bottom.

Eldwick & Gilstead were the latest team to take advantage of the Bradford & Bingley III team’s wobbly batting.

Bingley won the toss at Sandy Lane, but could only make 48, 16 of which came from skipper Adam Swallow, as Ajeet Singh took 6-32 and Arnie Raistrick 3-14.

Opener Pat Carberry then made 20 not out as E&G won by eight wickets halfway through the 15th over.

In Division One, Congs had a heavyweight battle with Oakworth, who had also won three out of three.

Oakworth won the toss, but could only make 78 as Wajid Mahmood took 4-19 and the reliable Matt Roberts 3-35.

Congs did lose five wickets in overhauling that total, however, winning in the 18th over, with Johandre Barnard making 23 and Chris Dibb 24.

Hepworth & Idle fared even worse than Oakworth, making just 50 after sending hosts Barrowford in.

Harvey Matthews took 3-21 in the Lancastrians’ 176-9 and was then unbeaten on 16 not out, with No.10 Mark Harland the only other player to reach double figures with 14.

Wilsden were not run shy, making 234-9 against Ingrow, thanks to Chris Mitchell (34), Sam Mitchell (73), captain Chris Longley (33) and Hasnat Bukhari (57), eventually winning the game by 85 runs.

Haworth Road Meths scored 169-9 after winning the toss, courtesy of Chris Griggs (68no), but Cowling found the chase easy, making 171-3 after 38.3 overs, with Andy Maude taking all of the wickets at a cost of 46 runs.

Hepworth & Idle II are up to second in Division Three after trouncing visitors Haworth.

The Westfield Laners made 174, of which James Bentley scored 31 and Dave Dunne 42, and then rolled over Haworth for 52 as Owen Price bagged 4-22 and Swaraj Thakur 5-27.

Wilsden II lost a low-scoring encounter at home to Gargrave II, who made 126, with most of the wickets taken by Luke Stableford (3-26), Chris Foster (2-21) and Mudassar Riaz (2-20).

But the hosts then replied with 111, which was tough on No.8 Jack Dooley (37no).

On a red-letter day for Congs, their third team are not only unbeaten with maximum points, but had two century makers at Cambing against Hepworth & Idle’s third team.

Paul Sansom made 112 and Jamie Teale 101 in Congs’ 309-4, adding 163 for the second wicket.

Sansom hit 20 fours and Teale 14 fours and three sixes, all this after Andy Copping (37) had put on 70 with Sansom for the first wicket, while Teale then put on 64 for the third with Asher Nutting (21).

Hepworth & Idle made 171 in response, with Daniel Moore hitting 45, skipper Dave Roberts 34 and Nigel Benson 26, with Andrew Greenwood taking 3-18, Yvonne Baines 3-51 and Nutting 2-18.