Apperley Bridge (formerly BT Bradford) started their BRADFORD CENTRAL LEAGUE DIVISION ONE campaign in good form at Girlington where Mohammed Junaid and Sadjid Mehmood both hit 80s to set the hosts a target of 235.

Mussawar Shah (6-78) and Raza Gulzar (4-44) took the wickets for the home side, who were never really in the hunt with only skipper Mohammed Azad offering much resistance with 32 in the final total of just 95 (Mohammed Waqas 4-19).

In contrast, the game between Allerton and visitors Thornbury proved to a real cliffhanger, with the home side failing by just six runs to overhaul Thornbury's 108 (Junaid Bashir 4-41).

At 53 for nine, Allerton were on the ropes in reply but a defiant last-wicket stand of 50, in which John Waddington plundered 37, almost saw an unlikely win until the final wicket fell at 103.

In DIVISION TWO, Apperley Bridge's Mohammed Shahid hit an unbeaten 74 out of his team's total of 193 (Shaz Meer 4-42) before Girlington were sent back for 106 in reply.

At Thornbury, Kamran Ali hit 62 out of the home team's 137 (Ishtiaq Raza 5-25) which proved enough as Allerton finished 28 runs short.