Spen Victoria win thrilling race for promotion in Bradford League
Spen Victoria were celebrating at the weekend after clinching promotion to Division Two of the Bradford Cricket League with a four-wicket win over Adwalton.
An incredible run has seen them go from outsiders for promotion to actually overtaking local rivals Heckmondwike & Carlinghow and Brighouse in the final stretch to clinch second place in the division with a week to spare.
Captain James Russell was a key player again as he took 4-22 to play a big part in Adwalton being restricted to 129-9 in an innings reduced by rain to 40 overs. Conor Butterworth also chipped in with two wickets.
Spen had a few nervy moments as they lost six wickets in their reply before getting over the line to take advantage of defeats for Heckmondwike & Carlinghow and Brighouse elsewhere.
Oliver Davison top scored with 21 while Andrew Robinson and Louis Jackson both hit 19no.
Liversedge are set to finish bottom of Division Three, but enjoyed only their second victory of the season as they chased down as DLS target of 109 in 21 overs to beat Wrenthorpe with nine balls and two wickets to spare.
Ashraf Karolia led the way with 46 as they held off the challenge from Mohammed Hassan (5-14) and Karam Padam (3-20).
Wrenthorpe made 143-7 from 35.1 overs when they batted first with Reuben Shuttleworth taking 3-23.
Cleckheaton ended their season on a high note and finished in ninth place in the Premier Division as they beat Jer Lane by 53 runs.
A big finish to the campaign with a number of impressive displays augurs well for 2026 if Cleckheaton can make a better start to the campaign than they did this year.
It was another strong performance against Jer Lane as they bowled them out for 161 in reply to 214.
After choosing to bat first, Cleck's openers put on 72 for the first wicket from 16 overs, with Ethan Lee looking particularly fluent in his 64, hitting 11 fours and a six.
Waleed Akhtar was dismissed for 29 and a rain delay reduced the innings to 42 overs, but Yousaf Baber made another classy half century, hitting three sixes and four fours in his 54.
Lane chipped away to keep the score in check, but it proved enough for the home team as their opponents were reduced to 30-3 and later suffered a middle order collapse to be 95-8. Despite some late hitting the visitors fell well short with Lachlan Doidge taking 3-39, Max Chappell 3-56 and Bradley Sylvester 2-27.