Ton-up Yousaf Baber stars again as Cleckheaton bag crucial Bradford League win

The Pakistan all-rounder‘s latest valuable contribution came with bat and ball as Cleckheaton secured a six-wicket win at Pudsey St Lawrence.

Baber hit an unbeaten 104 as they chased down the home side’s score of 192 with his side completing their win with almost 15 overs to spare.

Support came from Toby Booth with 24 and Richard Pyrah, 26.

Pudsey made a sluggish start to their innings and it was only due to the patience of opener Mark Robertshaw (76) and 44 by Harry Cullingford that they reached 192.

Baber made his first impression in the game as he took 3-12 and fellow spinner Andrew Deegan claimed 3-45 while Iain Wardlaw took 2-26.

They remain second from bottom, but are now 26 points ahead of Batley and within 10 of Hanging Heaton.

Batley suffered back to back defeats over the weekend to stay deep in relegation trouble.

Their catch up game against Bankfoot gave them a chance to close the gap on the teams above them, but they went down by three wickets.

After electing to bat first they were only able to make 150 despite 53 from opener Nikash Khan, who hit eight fours and a six. Muhammad Hafeez (24no) was the next highest scorer.

Bankfoot did not find things easy when they replied as Yasir Ali (5-46) proved a real threat, but they reached their target in the 33rd over with three wickets in hand.

A day earlier Batley’s bottom against top clash with New Farnley went the expected way with the leaders winning by nine wickets.

Batley again went in first and were all out for 110 despite another battling effort from opener Khan, who made 35, and 27 from Yasir Ali.

Opener Aidan Langley (50no) and Adam Waite (45no) then shared an undefeated second wicket stand of 102 as New Farnley coasted home in 18 overs.

Despite a century from skipper Ben Kohler-Cadmore, Hanging Heaton went down by 44 runs to Townville.

Kohler-Cadmore smashed four sixes and 13 fours as he made 108, but with only Sasith Manuranga (38) able to offer much in the way of support Heaton fell short as they were all out for 195 in reply to 239-9.

Townville’s score owed much to the efforts of opener Jonny Booth (68) and late runs from Conor Harvey (65no) with Callum Bethel taking 3-70.

Brad Schmulian hit 123 from only 86 balls as he helped Woodlands post the Premier Division’s highest score of the day on the way to a commanding 120-run win over Farsley that kept up their title challenge.

The New Zealander struck 18 fours and three sixes and shared an 155-run stand for the second wicket with Tim Jackson, who found the boundary 12 times in his knock of 70.

With Muhammad Bilal hitting 52 from 38 balls later in the innings Woodlands were able to post a big 334-7 total.

Farsley never looked likely to chase down the runs, but did manage to make 214. Liam Collins was the pick of the Woodlands bowlers with 4-36 while Bilal and Elliot Richardson took two wickets each

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Openers Eric Austin (61) and Andrew Robertson (48) provided the platform for Birstall’s 74-run win over East Bierley in Division One.

The opening stand of 119 was built on by Dominic Cleghorn (44), Matthew Dyson (31) and Nick Kaye (24) and Birstall were able to make 259-7 from their 50 overs. Nisar Ahmad (3-37) and Adam Brown (3-44) did most to restrict them.

Skipper Brown followed up with 51 when Bierley replied while Danny Cross scored 34, but they were all out for 175 with Ryan Gray (4-42) and Dave McCallum (3-41) doing most of the damage.

Despite some good batting from Andy Gorrod, Gomersal lost by 47 runs at Pudsey Congs.

Although Gorrod hit 10 fours and two sixes in a knock of 84 and found support from Joel Pollard (39) and Graham Hilton (35), Gomersal were left with a tough chase after their opponents made 287-8 and they ended on 240-9. Jonathan Boynton was the most successful bowler for the visitors with 3-88.

A superb all-round display by Sohail Hussain helped Hopton Mills to keep up their promotion bid in Division Two of the Gordon Rigg Bradford League.

Fourth-placed Mills stayed within 13 points of a promotion place when they beat fifth-placed Northowram Fields by 132 runs. Hussain proved the difference between the teams as he made an unbeaten 111 with the bat and followed up with 6-51 with the ball in hand.

His first big contribution came as his team made the most of winning the toss to bat first and his 92-ball knock included four sixes and 15 fours.

With Chris Scott also contributing 31, Kashif Talib 29no, Mark Ashton 29 and Umar Abbas 25, Mills were able to post a 283-6 total.

Northowram never looked like reaching the target set as they were all out for 151 with Hussain taking six wickets and two each for Usman Maqsood and Sana Ullah Khan.

Hartshead Moor leapfrogged Crossflatts as they lifted themselves out of the bottom two with an 18-run victory over their relegation rivals.

A second-wicket partnership of 116 between skipper Chris Wynd (64) and Iqbal Khan (86) was built on by Joe Bowman (40no) as Moor were able to post a 241-5 score.

Crossflatts were always in the game, but their spirited reply fell short as they ended on 223-9 with spinner Lewis Lomax taking 4-60.

Scholes moved up to second place in Division Three after Josh Fell led the way in a five-wicket win against Adwalton.

Skipper Fell soon had Adwalton in trouble and came back into the attack later to polish them off, taking 7-39 as the visitors were dismissed for 192.

Christian Jackson (60), Joe Duffy (38) and Hamza Khan (36no) then saw Scholes to their victory, which was achieved in the 25th over.

Crossbank Methodists are still searching for their first win of the season after being bowled out for 108 in their seven-wicket defeat by Heckmondwike & Carlinghow.

Only Sufyaan Sajid (30) and Nasir Mahmood (29) reached double figures against an attack led by Wasim Khaliq (4-48) and Wajid Hussain (4-1). Chris Allen (30no) and Qamar Shahzad (22no) then steered the visitors home, with Owais Hussain and Nikhil Thakur both hitting 25.

Rahat Shah’s six-wicket haul helped Spen Victoria to beat Brighouse by six wickets.

With Shah taking 6-38 and two wickets each for Jonathan Elstub and Paolo Girardi, Brighouse were dismissed for 111.

Spen slipped to 22-3 in their reply before Girardi (41no) and Oliver Davison (22no) brought them home.Leaders Liversedge kept up their challenge with an 86-run win over Altofts.

Wasim Nazir (95) and Matthew Gibson (46) led the way with a fifth wicket stand of 119 which helped the table toppers make 261. Altofts were all out for 175 as Parvaise Khan took 4-46.