Thornton capitalise on St Mary's defeat in bid for title

Thornton were in action at Luddendenfoot and soon had the hosts in all sorts of trouble at 19-5 after 10 overs.

Ross Parr (6-22) and Bradley Weatherhead (4-27) then completed the job, dismissing Foot for 53 in the 19th over.

What should have been tea became a late lunch, with the tea ladies having to get a move on, and, less than 10 overs later, Thornton had scored 55-2 to win by eight wickets, Josh Hutchinson’s 19 not out taking him to 1,004 league runs for the season – an ever better feat in a wet summer.

Thornton are now 25 points ahead of Illingworth, while at the other end of the table Oxenhope opted to bat at home to Copley and were dismissed for 157.

Only Daniel Scott (38) forged an innings of note as four bowlers shared the wickets.

Oxenhope’s bowling effort was a different story, however, as they restricted Copley to 139-9 in their 45 overs to gain a very valuable 11 points.

Only Will Rushton (48) caused any worries for the tight Oxenhope bowling attack as they moved six points clear of next-to-bottom Blackley.

In the First Division, there was the rare event of the top three all losing and the bottom three all winning.

Greetland were another team struggling to cope with pitch conditions and could only manage 111 at Clayton.

That score would have been significantly less had it not been for a battling innings from No 3 Shakeel Mahmood, whose 55 not out was just short of half the total as Kashif Talib (4-10) and Mitesh Mistry (4-22) were on form.

They were more than matched by four Greetland bowlers, however, who shared the wickets as Clayton fell eight runs short at 103, with Mahmood’s innings proving a match-winner.

Likewise at Southowram, third-placed Great Horton Park Chapel also found the sixties difficult to circumnavigate, going from 56-2 to 69-6 after skipper Adam Beasley had fought hard for his 30 in 84 minutes.

First-change bowler Ian Gledhill did the damage, proving almost unplayable as he recorded figures of 7.2-3-7-6 as Horton fell for 80.

Bottom-of-the-table Rams put a chink of light into their dark relegation tunnel as they collected a surprise 12 points, winning by six wickets at 82-4, with Yasir Mahmood leading them home with 36 not out.

Low Moor Holy Trinity’s top order progressed well as Shelf Northowram Hedge Top visited, and took the score to 97-3, with Ryan Williamson (44) top scoring. However, with the introduction of Harry Talbot (4-44) there was a noticeable slowing down and a further six wickets fell for only 47 as Trinity closed on 146-9.

But it proved 57 too much for Hedge Top, who were bowled out for 89, with only two batters reaching double figures, both making 25, as James Overend took 4-8.

As at the majority of grounds, leaders Warley found the going tough after being sent in by hosts Mount, and eventually managed a respectable 154-8.

Warley’s opener Chris Marsh (42) was top scorer as Adnaan Rawat took 4-31. Mount continued the theme of a near-bottom team beating a top one as they reached a winning 160-7 in the 42nd over, despite being 66-6.

It was Anees Rawat (55no) and Ibrahim Shaikh (20no) who provided the winning partnership that sealed a promotion setback for Warley.

In Division Two, Bradley & Colnebridge were another team that failed to deal with difficult batting conditions as they were despatched for only 77 at home to Cullingworth, with Jack Rogers (5-33) and Elliot Robinson (4-11) doing the majority of the damage.

Cullingworth also nearly proved how difficult batting was, as, in reply, they squeezed home at 78-8.

When opener Scott Pearson (35) was out at 60-4, another four wickets fell for 10 runs, with Khalil Khan taking 5-10.

Upper Hopton, keen to get back to winning ways after their blip the previous week, posted 142 at Queensbury with six batters getting in but none reaching 30 as Gareth Walker took 4-51.

Hopton did indeed get back to winning ways, dismissing the home team for 110 as only James Myers (29) passed 25, with their batters struggling for all of the 40 overs, Charlie Wightman’s figures of 10-3-18-4 illustrating that point.

There was a similar batting scoring pattern at Sowerby St Peter’s as Oakworth visited.

Another six of the home batters reached double figures, but it needed a ninth-wicket partnership of 61 from Jack Leonard (31no) and Patrick Leonard (32) to boost the score from 106-8 to an eventual 171-9.

The home team, however, dropped eight important points in their promotion quest as Oakworth overhauled the target, just, at 175-9.

James Powell (59) and Jake Keslinke (48) were their top scorers, not for the first time this season, but the match was on a knife-edge when the ninth wicket fell at 171-9, with the scores level.

Enter the hero of the hour as No 11 Charlie Ruby hit his one and only ball for four.