THE season may be almost three-quarters of the way through, but Wilsden finally have a victory to their name in Division One of the Timothy Taylor’s Craven League.

Sent in at Bradley, they were indebted to Chris Longley, who scored 76 off 114 balls, including nine fours and two sixes, and was seventh out at 133.

Three other players had scores in the teens as the visitors’ topsy-turvy innings lurched from 10-3 to 49-3, then 49-5 before Longley added 55 for the sixth wicket with Doug Richardson (13).

Wilsden then went from 133-6 to 133-8 before a stand of 20 for the ninth wicket helped them to 161-9.

Bradley were dismissed for 119 as Harrison Houldsworth took 4-27, Chris Mitchell 3-29 and Sam Mitchell 2-21, with the victory moving Wilsden off the bottom, being replaced by Haworth, who suffered a heart-breaking loss to Glusburn, whose last pair scored 46 unbroken to take them to victory.

Meanwhile, Hepworth & Idle closed to within two points of second-placed Haworth Road Meths by defeating them at Westfield Lane.

Meths won the toss but did not make best use of it as they were dismissed for 105, despite 44 from opener Naseeb Ali, 14 from Shahid Saleem and 15 not out by Ammar Ahmed.

The influential Tom Hawksworth took 4-5, Jonny Thompson 3-23 and Alex Robinson 2-25.

Thompson was then promoted to opener, scoring 32, and Jamie Topham (25) and Jay Bhangoo (26no) helped Hepworth & Idle to a three-wicket win in the 34th over, defying the outstanding Mansha Khan (12-7-15-3), Tom Kaznowski (2-17) and Mohammed Ibrahim (2-31).

Eldwick & Gilstead are one of the six clubs chasing Glusburn, with only 18 points separating Meths from seventh-placed Glusburn.

The twin villages were at Cowling, who were 10-5 but somehow ended up with 132, despite collapsing from 130-6 as Arnie Raistrick took 5-33, Jordan Bayliss 2-23 and Sunil Yadav 2-9.

Eldwick & Gilstead were likely winners after openers Deependra Rathore (41) and Mihir Dighe (17) had put on 68, but they lost four wickets with the score at 94 and three more at 115, which was their final total.

n Division Two, leadewrs Bowling Baptists have extended their advantage over Silsden to six points, but it proved a tight contest at Skipton CI.

The visitors won the toss and made 156-8, with opener Muhammad Zulfiqar Khan top-scoring with 39 and numbers three to eight all making double figures.

The match was in the balance after tea, but CI lost their last three wickets at 143 to lose by 13 runs, with Shahbaz Ishaq taking 5-50, Muhammad Fakhar 2-18 and Zulfiqar Khan 2-23.

Meanwhile, Hepworth & Idle II came mighty close to their third win of the season, scoring 183-9 at Denholme after being asked to bat.

The visitors were 74-6, of which Mark Davies scored 38, before an eighth-wicket stand of 61 between Simon Raistrick (61 off 54 balls including seven fours and two sixes) and Muhammad Abdullah (34).

Denholme were 50-5 in reply, Daniel Moore taking three of the wickets on his way to 4-49, but stands of 87 and 33 followed and the last pair put on three to give them victory in the 38th over.

Hepworth & Idle are bottom by 13 points from Ingrow and are 20 points from safety with five matches remaining.

Hugo Nolson, whose powers of concentration have quickly become legendary despite him being only 12, batted throughout Bradford & Bingley III’s innings against Silsden II at Wagon Lane, scoring 34 not out.

Shahbaz Ahmed (18) and Irfan Ul Haque (51 off 33 balls, including five fours and three sixes) added 25 and 61 respectively with Nolson, and Bingley finished on 130-7.

Silsden then won by five wickets in the 36th over, despite Farhan Khalid bagging 2-21 and Ozair Ahmed 2-29 for the fifth-placed hosts.

Bingley Congs III have dropped into a relegation place by one point after conceding to leaders Long Lee, while the other demotion berth is occupied by Wilsden II, who lost by 138 runs at home to nine-man Cowling.

The latter won the toss and made 219, Ollie Houldsworth filling his boots with 5-41 and Tanveer Hussain taking 2-24.

Wilsden, who only had 10 men, started their reply well, being 73-3 but collapsed to 81 all out, which rather ruined the earlier good work of Sakib Ali (26), Nigel Butterfield (17) and Mudassar Riaz (20), with Ali featuring in stands of 37 and 31 respectively with Butterfield and Riaz.

In Division Four, Hepworth & Idle III were no match for leaders Bradley at Cambing, being dismissed in 26 overs after being sent in.

Four players made double figures - keeper Malcolm Kershaw (20), Gary Wilkinson (18), under-17 Freddie Leadbeater (18) and No 10 Paul O’Connell (17no) - but four wickets fell at 79 and others at 82 and 89 as they finished one run shy of three figures.

Bradley then won by nine wickets after 27.4 overs with partnerships of 47 and 53 unbroken.

Menston V conceded to Bowling Baptists, who are third, 11 points behind Skipton CI.