Parish clinch promotion with four games to spare

Parish recorded a 16th win of the season, defeating Lepton Highlanders by three wickets last Saturday and they are 25 points clear of third placed Upperthong, guaranteed of a top two finish.

The are eight points clear of Almondbury Wesleyans in the race for the title.

An impressive bowling display saw Parish dismiss Lepton for 108 inside 31 overs.

Cameron Neal top scored for the home side with 56 but he lacked support as Daniel Hope tore into their batting line-up, claiming 5-22 from 8.3 overs, while Connor Rowlands (3-26) supported.

Parish didn’t have things all their own way in reply and lost seven wickets as Imran Khan claimed 5-47 but they were steered home by Nazar Hussain, who finished 40 not out.

Almondbury Wesleyans kept in touch with Parish with an 83-run victory away to Mirfield.

Tom Hinks (56) top scored for Almondbury but they were bowled out for 173 off the final ball of their 50 overs as Alex Pearson finished with 4-45.

Mirfield lost wickets at regular intervals in reply as Matthew Henshaw (3-17) and Jack Atkinson (3-34) produced impressive bowling spells.

Beau McGuinness offered late resistance as the number nine batsman finished top scorer on 28 not out but it was not enough to prevent Mirfield being dismissed for 90 and they stay ninth in the table.

Moorlands relinquished top spot in the Championship following a one-wicket defeat at home to Meltham.

Defeat allowed Thongsbridge to move three points clear at the top with four matches remaining, while third placed Meltham closed the gap on Moorlands to three points.

Michael Rounding top scored with 50, while Jarrad Maxwell hit 40 not out as Moorlands posted 180-6 from their 50 overs, as Muhammad Kashif claimed 4-50.

Meltham stumbled towards their target as Moorlands fought back but Mudassar Butt held their innings together with 69 not out.

Meltham suffered two late run outs as they chased victory but Butt kept his cool to see Meltham over the finish line off the penultimate ball of the match.