Patel Leads Manningham Mills To Thrilling Win

Mills were heading for defeat at 189-9 in reply to Saltaire’s 262-5 when last man Zeeshan Qasim joined Patel.

Patel finished unbeaten on 114 with three sixes and 12 fours as he and Qasim (31) shared a tenth wicket stand of 74 to enable Mills to win with nine balls to spare.

It the second rescue-stand in which Patel had been involved. Earlier, Mills had slumped to 89-6 before Patel and wicket keeper Mohammed Altaf (37) led a revival with a seventh wicket partnership of 81.

Saltaire owed much to Fahid Rehman, who made 104 not out with seven sixes and eight fours and led a recovery with an unbroken sixth wicket stand of 138 with Tineshe Gomwe (62) when they slipped to 124-5 after opener Farhan Khan (44) had given them a good start.

Woodlands increased their lead to 44 points after an eight-wicket win at one of their main rivals Pudsey St Lawrence.

The home side were in trouble after losing their first two wickets for one run, but James Smith led their revival with an innings of 81 and received good support from Gareth Clough (50) and wicket keeper Steve Thompson (31 not out) to enable them to reach 196-8.

Woodlands then cruised to victory thanks to a second wicket stand of 161 between opener Scott Richardson (90 not out) and Simon Mason (89), Richardson hitting two sixes and ten fours, Mason one six and 14 fours.

East Bierley clung on to second spot after a surprise home defeat against Lightcliffe.

Bierley posted 231-5 after a consistent batting performance with Mark Gill (52), skipper Lee Goddard (40), Rao Anjum (39 not out), Richard Atkins (38 not out) and Andrew Rennison (33) leading the way.

However, they were undone by an unbroken sixth wicket partnership of 121 between skipper Jonathan Wilson (84) and Chris Taylor (69) after opener, Yorkshire batsman Alex Lees had given them a good start with 52.

The bottom three clubs lost - Undercliffe at home to Cleckheaton, Farsley at home to Hanging Heaton and Pudsey Congs at Bradford & Bingley.

Spinners Sandeep Raishanker (4-55) and Harry Smallwood (4-69) helped to restrict Congs to 200-9 in response to Bingley’s 260-4. Cumberland batsman Alex Atkinson top scored for Bingley with 94 not out and there was good support from Simon Davies (49) and Scott Etherington (39), who shared an opening stand of 99 and David Clow (34).

Congs remain a point above the relegation places after Farsley lost by five wickets. Haroon Rashid hit 83 against his old club and while Matthew Lumb scored 40 as Farsley made 216-9. Hanging Heaton then coasted to victory with five overs to spare, Ahsan Butt (64), Joe Fraser (58) and Rob McFarlane (55) all scoring half centuries.

Undercliffe remain bottom of the table after losing by eight wickets at home to Cleckheaton. Opener Matthew Bottomley batted through the Undercliffe innings for 87 not out as the home side reached 196. That total proved to be no problem for in-form Cleckheaton, who won with 16.1 overs to spare with opener Tim Jackson scoring 63, Ian Nicholson 57 not out and skipper John Wood 38.

David Markham

© Cricket World 2012