Woodlands target place in Headingley Yorkshire Premier Champions play-off final

Woodlands signed off their Bradford Premier League championship winning season with a two-wicket victory over Farsley last Sunday to finish 42 points ahead of nearest challengers Townville.

They now welcome South Yorkshire Premier League champions Doncaster Town to Albert Terrace in the play-off semi-final, with the winners securing a place in the final at Headingley the following week.

Kez Ahmed claimed 4-57 as Farsley were bowled out for 146, with Ryan Cooper (44) and Matthew Revis (41) leading the way.

Woodlands made hard work of the reply but Sam Frankland (30) top scored as they secured victory despite Ben Morley taking 3-17.

Cleckheaton had spoiled Woodlands’ title-winning celebrations on Saturday by inflicting an 11-run defeat on them just hours after captain Cieran Garner received the league trophy.

Nick Lindley and Azeem Rafiq both made 42 as Cleckheaton reached 223-9, a total which was swelled by 53 extras – 26 of which were wides — when they batted first, with Chris Brice (4-41) and Ahmed (3-51) impressing with the ball.

Tim Jackson top scored with 84 against his former club but Woodlands were kept in check by spinners Rafiq (4-46) and Andrew Deegan (3-55) as they closed on 212-9.

Hanging Heaton ended the season in third place after they secured victories against Undercliffe and Cleckheaton over the double weekend.

James Keen (63), Joe Fraser (47) and Callum Geldart (40)made useful contributions as Hanging Heaton posted a challenging total of 249-9 against Undercliffe, with Khalid Usman (4-87) and Simon Lambert (3-38) among the wickets.

Opener Lambert followed up by making 116 as he threatened to win the game for Undercliffe.

His innings included a six and 15 fours and made him the Premier Division’s top run scorer with 690 and took him to the top of the averages on 49.3.

Captain Scott Etherington (34) shared a first-wicket stand of 108 but Undercliffe were eventually dismissed for 228 as David Stiff (4-33) and Callum Bethel (3-55) put them under pressure.

Hanging Heaton followed up with a four-wicket win over Cleckheaton on Sunday in Gary Fellows’ final game as captain.

Geldart took 4-33 and Josh Holling (3-58) as Cleckheaton were dismissed for 172, with captain Mally Nicholson (49) top scoring.

Geldart (41) and Fellows (36) helped Hanging Heaton towards the victory which secured third place in the final table despite Rafiq taking 3-47 for Cleckheaton.

The match was Cleckheaton all-rounder John Wood’s final game with the former Lancashire and Durham man having made a huge contribution to Bradford League cricket over the past 30 years, including leading the Moorend club to back-to-back title wins in 2013 and 2014.

Methley, who were rooted to the bottom of the table for much of the season, finished eighth after beating New Farnley by two wickets to record their sixth win.

There was a dramatic end to the Premier Division campaign as Wrenthorpe produced a final day escape to finish outside the relegation zone and condemn Undercliffe to the drop.

Undercliffe suffered a dramatic batting collapse against Townville as they lost their last six wickets for 23 runs to lose by 20 runs.

Spinners Khalid Usman and Simon Lambert both took 4-47 to bowl out Townville for what looked a modest score of 137.

Only overseas player Imran Rafique (42) made an impression.

Undercliffe looked to be heading for the win that would guarantee safety as they reached 94-4, before Townville fought back through Jack Hughes (4-31) and Harry Clewett (3-45) to claim a dramatic victory.

That left Wrenthorpe celebrating survival after defeating Bradford & Bingley by 99 runs.

Wrenthorpe overseas player Khalil Khan top scored with 55 as they made 220-8.

Khan followed up by taking 3-22 and with support from Ollie Kilburn (3-38) the home side were bowled out for 121 despite 41 from Matthew Duce.