OXENHOPE are celebrating promotion back to the Premier Division despite losing by five wickets to Queensbury in their latest Halifax League match.

A much-changed team due to holidays slumped to 67-5 but rallied to finish on 166-9, thanks mainly to Liam Dyson (39), Joseph Ousey (29) and Luke Fleetwood (27no).

Amjad Ali claimed 6-41 for the visitors, who top the table and are also going up, and they had little difficulty knocking off the runs as Azhar Sharif made 51.

Rain thwarted third-placed Great Horton Park Chapel's victory hopes at Low Moor HT, which meant Oxenhope's promotion from Division One was confirmed.

Matthew Jordan recorded the remarkable bowling figures of 13-10-11-6 for Great Horton as only Robert Dowling (64) coped with any success for the home side, who were all out for 112.

Alas for the visitors, the rains came as they needed 65 more runs to win with nine wickets still standing.

Another side to clinch promotion were Denholme Clough in Division Two after beating Shelf at home – but only just.

Set 170 to win, the visitors looked down and out at 113-6. No 10 Aamir Rashid (35) then wagged the tail, only to lose his wicket with seven runs still required as his side were bowled out for 163 (Sohail Safar 4-51, Tanweer Aslam 4-29).

Ghulam Farid (52) had earlier hit what turned out to be an important half-century for the promoted team.

Shelf's loss now makes Cullingworth favourites to join Clough in Division One after they enjoyed a comprehensive win at home to Upper Hopton.

Ben Birkill hit 72 for the hosts as they made 177 all out and his side looked to be cruising to victory when Upper Hopton were reeling at 51-7.

A knock of 55 from Waseem Iqbal, who had earlier taken 5-28, kept the visitors' hopes alive before they were finally dismissed for 125.

Dave Robinson led the way with 4-42, while Chris Welch took 3-13 and Burkill completed an impressive match with 3-8.

Meanwhile, a tense Premier Division title race will definitely go down to the wire as, with two matches remaining, just six points separate the top three.

Warley (175 points) made the big gain on Saturday with a terrific five-wicket win at fellow contenders Booth (176), who had run up an imposing 255-9.

Defending champions Jer Lane (185-6) were victims of the weather in their home match against Thornton, which was abandoned with the visitors needing a further 144 runs in 28 overs – not an impossible task.