THORNTON are the new leaders of the ENCO Halifax League Premier Division, writes Bill Marshall.
They handed Illingworth St Mary's their second defeat in eight days at The Ainleys and are now nine points clear of them at the top.
St Mary's opted to bat, but only Jake Fellows (42) managed more than 25 runs as Bradley Weatherhead (5-27) and Ross Parr (4-36) caused the majority of the problems, leaving them with a below-par total of 146.
A fine skipper's innings of 80 not out from opener Richie Wear ensured the opportunity to go top was not lost as his team completed the win with 147-5.
To compound the loss for St Mary's, second place in the table is now occupied by Oxenhope, just seven points off the top following a narrow home win over Copley.
At The Flatt, the visitors were soon in trouble after being inserted, losing half their wickets for only 56, with only Oliver Thorpe (48) dealing with the home attack.
Ian Hartley (24) was the only other batter to reach double figures with a No 11 cameo as the innings closed on 116, Ben Howell taking 4-22.
However, what appeared to be a comfortable chase for the hosts turned out to be exactly the opposite as they made heavy weather of reaching a winning 117-8.
At 93-8, it required a captain's knock of 23 not out from Joel Fothergill, batting at No 9, to get his team over the line.
The tightest finish in the division came at Shelf Northowram Hedge Top, where visiting SBCI squeezed home by two runs.
Chris Dalby (76) was the top scorer for SBCI as they posted 219, and in reply Hedge Top opener Owen Bairstow scored 54, but after his departure wickets fell at regular intervals and at 206-8 the result was in doubt.
After 44 overs, the score was 212-8, but Thomas Wood (3-57) bowled a tight over, conceding just five runs in five balls, and with a run out off the last ball Hedge Top fell two runs short at 217-9.
Upper Hopton put daylight between themselves and the bottom two as they rattled up 277-7 at Sowerby St Peter's and followed up by bowling out their hosts for 200.
Hopton skipper Harvey Lockwood (95) just missed out on a century as Daniel Syme added 44.
Sowerby were in trouble at 92-7 but, led by Aiden Green (54) and aided by the tail, they added a further 108.
The two promoted teams, Luddendenfoot and Sowerby, are unfortunately now looking likely to make a swift return to the second tier.
In the First Division, Low Moor Holy Trinity, stranded at the bottom of the table without a win all season, went down by 136 runs at Greetland.
The hosts moved into top spot with a one-point lead over inactive previous leaders Blackley.
Batting first, the hosts totalled 196, with Muhammad Asif (67) and Connor Briscoe (5-61) featuring.
The Trinity could only manage 60 in reply, Waqas Ali taking 4-33.
Mytholmroyd also took full advantage of the situation, moving to within 10 points of the top, with two matches in hand over the new leaders and one over Blackley.
Visiting Oakworth were bowled out for a lowly 120 and, while Milo Robbins took 5-26, the stand-out analysis of the day came from Joe Kershaw with 14-10-6-4.
In the Royd reply, Luke Sutcliffe also made a good claim for man of the match, hammering a superb 101 not out from 77 balls as the Royd's winning 121-4 came in the 26th over.
