Dramatic Stand Clinches Victory For Cleckheaton

Cleckheaton’s last wicket pair Mally Nicholson and Andrew Deegan snatched a dramatic last wicket win at Lightcliffe on the day Farsley moved off the bottom of the JCT 600 Bradford League First Division table with a resounding 113-run win at Bradford & Bingley.

Victory looked highly unlikely after Cleckheaton slumped to 98 for nine after losing their first four wickets for eight runs in reply to Lightcliffe’s total of 137 for six in a match reduced to 30 overs a side because of rain.

However, wicketkeeper Nicholson and Deegan edged closer to the target until six runs were needed from the final over bowled by Alex Stead. Four came from the first five balls and then Deegan hit the last ball for two to make sure of Cleckheaton’s third victory in a row.

Nicholson was left unbeaten with 56, including four sixes and three fours while Deegan scored eight.

Last season’s runners-up Farsley put their poor start behind them to record only their second win of the season at Wagon Lane.

They struggled at the start, losing their first three wickets for 37, but No 5 batsman Andrew Duckworth held the innings together with a top score of 51 and received good support from Barrie Frankland (24). Then useful contributions from the later batsmen helped to lift the score to 177 with Chris Thompson the most successful Bingley bowler with five for 42.

Bingley’s batsmen had no answer to Farsley’s pace attack of Chris Henry and Matthew Lumb as they slumped to 64 all out in 23 overs with no one apparently able to stop the slide towards defeat.

Lumb finished with six for 34 in 11 overs while Chris Henry took four for 26 in 12 as only two home batsmen, opener Simon Davies (18) and Alex Atkinson (11) reached double figures.

The 17 points from the win lifted Farsley to fourth from the bottom, but only seven points separate the bottom four clubs.

The 2010 champions Pudsey Congs are now bottom – their home match against Hanging Heaton was abandoned after only seven balls. It was one of three First Division matches to be victims of the weather – the others were Manningham Mills v Pudsey St Lawrence and East Bierley v Undercliffe.

Meanwhile, leaders Woodlands made it seven wins out of seven as they beat Saltaire by 26 runs at Roberts Park in a match reduced to 42 overs because of rain.

Grant Soames was top scorer with 46 while opener Sam Frankland made 38 as Woodlands managed to reach 162 for nine.

Saltaire made a good start in pursuit of their target led by Tabbi Bhatti on 49 and, at 119 for two, they looked favourites to win,

However, they lost quick wickets as they were restricted to 136 for nine with Woodlands skipper Pieter Swanepoel taking five for 43.

In the Second Division, Baildon, aiming to win back their First Division status at the first attempt, moved into second place by beating promotion rivals Morley by seven wickets after restricting the home side to 146 for nine, Sohail Raz taking four for 31.

Luke Heinemann (48) and Kashif Naveed (31) were Morley’s top scorers.

Opener Simon Webb led Baildon to victory with 54 and received good support from Kasir Maroof (35).

The win puts Baildon level on 87 points with third placed Morley, 18 points behind leaders Yeadon, whose match against

Great Horton was one of two Second Division matches to be abandoned without a ball being bowled. The other was Gomersal v Windhill.

Bankfoot, Bowling Old Lane and Idle also recorded their first wins. Bankfoot Kanchana Rodrigo scored the day’s only century, 123, including two sixes and 19 fours while Nigel Hanson made 50 not out as Bankfoot reached 261 for six against Spen Victoria. Spen made 179 in reply with Tosh Baker top scoring with 57 while Dan Shuffe made 46.

Old Lane totalled 169 against Keighley with Ayyaz Akram top scoring with 46 and Mohammed Faisal 39. Tom Stead with four for 38 and Simon Bailey three for 33 were Keighley’s best bowlers. Old Lane then dismissed Keighley for 109 to record a 53-run win with Mahboob Hussain taking four for 26, Zubair Najeeb three for 23 and Arsaian Ijaz three for 25.

Wajid Hussain (63 not out) and Amrit Bhogal (53) were top scorers in Idle’s total of 167 for two before they bowled out Brighouse for 123 with Michael Kelsey taking three for 23 and Harpal Singh three for 47. Tajir Majid made a defiant 50 not out for Brighouse.

David Markham