THORNBURY have won the Dales Council League’s Pool Paper Mills Cup final for the first time.

They defeated holders Interlink at Pudsey Congs by nine wickets and also had a hat-trick hero in man of the match Waqas Abbas.

Interlink had already lost star batter Irfan Jamadar for four in the first over, bowled by Usmat Munir, before Abbas’ deadly strikes from the first three balls of the second over reduced them to 10-4.

That soon became 19-6 after the dismissals of Mohammed Data, by Munir, and Mahmed Memi, by first-change Mohammed Humzah, skipper Abbas finishing with figures of 8-3-11-3.

Opener Yunus Bismillah and Javed Memi then took the score to 57 before the latter was bowled for 12 by Gulraz Mehmood, and soon after he struck again, bowling Bismillah for 23 to make it 65-8.

Interlink, who chose to bat, only reached three figures because the last two wickets added 54, with captain Ebrahim Bismillah top-scoring with 27 at No 9 before being last out.

Nos 10 and 11 Jay Rajpurohit (14) and Mohammad Pandor (17no) supported him well as they ended on 119 after 32.5 overs, Mehmood finishing with 3-45 and Munir 2-23.

Thornbury’s reply was in soon top gear as 26 runs came off the first three overs, and it looked as if they would triumph by 10 wickets until Yassir Abbas was run out for 42 going for a quick single in the 17th over when the score was 88.

The innings lasted only 19.4 overs as opener Kaleem Afzal ended with 36 not out and Numan Rawad a rapid 28 not out from just 14 balls.