Woodlands and Hanging Heaton lose on dramatic day in title race

Woodlands were unbeaten in the first half of the season but slipped to an eight-wicket defeat at the hands of New Farnley.

Their decision to bat first backfired dramatically as New Farnley’s left-arm seamers Alex Lilley (5-15) and Charlie Parker (4-27) bowled the home side out for just 68 in 22.3 overs.

New Farnley cruised to victory in 16.3 overs to secure an eight-wicket success.

Hanging Heaton were unable to take full advantage of Woodlands’ slip as they suffered a second straight home defeat at the hands of Farsley.

Heaton had Farsley in trouble at 56-5 before Ben Morley led the revival with a battling 52.

Captain Matthew Lumb continued the recovery after the visitors then slipped to 131-8 as he made an unbeaten 56 and was well supported by Paul Nicholson and Matthew Simpson to get Farsley up to 223-9.

Josh Holling (3-45) and Tom Chippendale (3-52) were the best Hanging Heaton bowlers.

Captain Gary Fellows led the Heaton reply with 97, while Ishmail Dawood (37) supported but Yorkshire leg spinner Josh Poysden (4-61) and overseas player Pat Kruger (3-60) kept Farsley in contention.

When last man Chippendale returned a catch to Kruger, Heaton were five runs short of their target.

Second-placed Pudsey St Lawrence edged a two-wicket win at Methley to cut the gap to 25 points, with Bradford and Bingley a further three behind in third and Hanging Heaton 39 adrift of Woodlands.

St Lawrence were made to fight for victory over a Methley side that remain without a win and bottom of the table.

Jordan Laban top scored with 53 as Methley were bowled out for 146 as spinners Steve Watts (4-33) and Archie Scott (3-50) enjoyed success.

Methley’s Yorkshire bowlers Jarred Warner (3-28) and Matthew Waite reduced St Lawrence to 39-5 in reply but a determined innings of 32 from Josh Priestley proved vital as they recovered to win with eight wickets down.

Bradley Reeve claimed 4-33 as Bradford & Bingley bowled Lightcliffe out for 178, with overseas player Suleman Khan top scoring with 75, on a day which saw captain Matthew Duce claim his 600th Bradford League wicketkeeping victim.

A second-wicket stand of 101 between Kyme Tahirkeli (68) and Callam Goldthorp (41) helped Bingley to victory.

Cleckheaton continued their recent good form with a six-wicket win over Townville, which leaves them in sixth place.

Jonathan Whiteoak produced his season’s best figures of 6-38, while John Wood picked up 2-21 from seven overs as Cleckheaton skittled out Townville for 73.

Azeem Rafiq made 39 as Cleckheaton took just 17 overs to wrap up their second win in a row.

Undercliffe climbed out of the relegation positions after an emphatic 10-wicket win over Wrenthorpe who have now dropped into the bottom two.