Bradford Cricket League: Brad Schmulian shines as Woodlands set sights on runners-up finish

Undercliffe, who are almost certain to be relegated, put in a resilient first innings showing, but were beaten by eight wickets by a Woodlands team sitting in second place, seven points above Townville.

After losing their first two wickets inside the first eight overs Undercliffe recovered well to reach 134-2 in the 27th over before Suraj Singh was undone by a Brad Schmulian googly to fall for 33.

Kyle Welsh continued and went on to hit 82, including two sixes and eight fours, but wickets tumbled at the other end with his side collapsing to be all out for 212.

Most of the damage was done by Schmulian (4-40) and Kez Ahmed (3-38).

Woodlands’ reply was rarely troubled by Undercliffe’s bowlers. Having Mosun Hussain back at the top of the order was a massive boost for the hosts and he seemed well set for a big score before he failed to clear the boundary to reach 50 and was caught out for 48.

He did put on 68 for the first wicket with Sam Frankland who was then joined by Schmulian for a 133-run partnership that broke the back of the chase.

Frankland could not quite see the game home after top edging a sweep to be out for 58. Henry Pearson, however, helped Schmulian to knock off the rest of the runs as Woodlands cantered to victory in the 39th over. Schmulian’s great afternoon saw him finish not out on 73, having hit 10 boundaries.

Division One leaders Pudsey Congs were beaten for only the second time this season as they went down to a five-wicket defeat against fifth-placed Batley.

Skipper Saqib Talib’s decision to put Congs in brought early rewards as openers Callum Oliver and Hassan Butt were both dismissed by Abdullah Khan to reduce the visitors to 12-2.

Nick Lindley (74) and Yohan Mendis (48) revived their side with a stand 125 for the third wicket, but after their stand was broken the innings rapidly declined as overseas player Ali Hamza Waseem (5-51) and Khan (3-28) enabled Batley to bowl out Congs for 175.

Waseem followed up by scoring 44 as opener and his efforts were built on by Hisan Ahmad (48no) and Muhammad Ahmad (45) as Batley eased to victory.

Birstall went down by 36 runs in their Division One game at home to Ossett as Muhammad Rameez undid them, taking a hat-trick on his way to 6-45.

Rameez already had three wickets to his name when he achieved the feat in his 10th over. Matthew Dyson trapped lbw, Waseem Liaqat was caught by James Keen and Oliver Kilburn was bowled.

Birstall were all out for 139 after they had done a decent job in the field to bowl their opponents out for 175. Daniel Marlow (4-40) and Sharoon Siraj (4-25) were their best bowlers.

Skipper Luke Patel (65) and Kasir Maroof (51no) shared a third wicket stand of 113 to help Hanging Heaton to beat relegation-threatened Scholes by six wickets in Division Two.

Heaton won with 16.4 overs to spare as valuable contributions also came from Methushan Thilina (28) and Tom Lindsay (27no).

Scholes had made 191 after opting to bat first. Josh Fell (48no) and Sayed Salman (44) were the top scorers as Umar Farooq (3-36) and Thilina (3-44) posed the main threat.

Crossbank Methodists were unable to halt Streethouse’s charge to the Division Three title after losing to them by seven wickets.

Ismail Patel was their destroyer, taking 7-18 as they were shot out for 70.

Australian Joel Austin hit his sixth century of the season as Hopton Mills posted a big 379-4 total in their 144-run win over Liversedge.

Austin made 105 not out, including seven sixes and 11 fours, and has now taken his run tally up to 994 in the league in his first season.

Ben Haigh (53no) shared an unbroken fifth wicket stand of 140 with Austin as Mills capitalised on the earlier good work of opener Stephen Bland (84) and Connor Heywood (51).

The highlight of the Liversedge score of 236 was a big-hitting knock of 63 from last man Brijesh Dhangar, which featured five sixes. He added 101 for the last wicket with Musafa Djadji (28no).