Saltaire skipper Ijaz Khan has called on the JCT600 Bradford League to look again at the decision to increase the number of points for an abandoned match from two to five.

The decision, made at last November’s annual meeting, came under scrutiny at the weekend after every other first-team match except Saltaire’s home game against Pudsey St Lawrence was abandoned following exceptionally heavy rainfall.

And, after seeing his side lose by six wickets and gain only four bonus points, Khan was left to reflect on the fact that if Saltaire had not bothered to work hard to stage the match, his side would have been one point better off having been given five points for an abandoned game.

Following heavy rain, the league relaxed their rules and allowed clubs to call off Saturday’s matches with the consent of their opponents, rather than have players and umpires turn up on the day, saving time and expense.

Khan said: “I can understand why the league did what they did, but you get five points for not even trying to get a game on – I think that is too many.

“We were here from early on Saturday morning working to get our ground fit for play and I would expect there to be more reward for clubs like ours that make an effort to get a game on rather call the game off.

“We had a proper game of cricket on a decent wicket. Unfortunately, we didn’t make enough runs and this was another game where dropped catches let us down.

“Adam Waite was dropped by the keeper early on and, if you are playing at this level, you have got to take your catches.

“Credit to Pudsey St Lawrence, they are a good team, but I don’t think we helped ourselves.”

After being asked to bat, Saltaire found the going tough as 18-year-old Oliver Ashford, who has joined Durham Academy, made the breakthrough with the wickets of openers Farhan Khan and Irfan Amjad.

Tabbi Bhatti, who came to the wicket after Saltaire had lost Farhan Khan without a run on the board, staged a rearguard action, patiently batting throughout the remaining overs for a defiant 46 not out.

He received useful support from Fahid Rehman, overseas all-rounder Nawaz Sardar and Wasim Qasim, but Saltaire were pegged back by off-spinner Steve Watts, who twice took two wickets in two balls without completing a hat-trick, and finished as the most successful bowler with 4-36. One suspected that Saltaire’s total of 155-8 was not going to test St Lawrence.

Once skipper Mark Robert-shaw and Waite had put together an opening stand of 51, they were on their way to what proved to be a comfortable victory, achieved with 12 overs to spare.

Steve Marsden (29) struck some lusty blows in an unbroken fifth wicket stand of 45 with Gareth Clough.

So, while third-from-the-bottom Saltaire marginally lost ground on their relegation rivals, St Lawrence reclaimed second place, leapfrogging East Bierley.

Their 16-point success cut Woodlands’ lead to 28 points.

Robertshaw said: “We bowled really well, especially Steve Watts, and to restrict them to 155 was a good performance. I thought 180 or 190 was about par.

“There was also a solid performance with the bat and we always felt comfortable.”