Amazing finish as Shelf Northowram HT win on last ball at Sowerby Bridge

Sowerby Bridge was inserted and did well to reach 164-6 after being 89-5 at one stage.

The revival was mainly due to Sam Mellor (40 not out), aided by Chris Whitehall (25 not out) in a 48-run undefeated seventh-wicket partnership.

SNHT was progressing well in reply, Scott Richardson showing his class with a half-century, and at 153-5 needed just 12 runs to win.

Then panic set in as an incredible four batsmen were all run out as the score staggered to 164-9, scores tied.

It was left to No 5 batsman Luke Cole (27 not out), who must have been wondering how he had become part of the mayhem, to hit the winning run off the last ball of the match with much obvious relief.

Second placed Thornton’s batsmen, its two openers excepted, were in top form at Warley as they scored at 6.6 runs an over after electing to take first knock.

After being 32-2 the runs flowed led by Ross Parr (85 not out), assisted by four other batsmen making significant contributions, as the innings closed at 246-6.

That score proved more than enough as Warley never got past second gear with only No 7 Matthew Whitworth (40) causing any concern for the Thornton bowlers.

So much so that skipper Ross Soames opted to use six of them, all taking at least one wicket with Warley falling to 138 all out – a 126 run win for the Bradford team.

Third-placed Booth kept the pressure on the top of the table with a 37-run win over Blackley at Broad Fold Park.

Batting was not easy and Booth, normally hitting scores over 200 runs on its own square, failed to use all its overs and was 179 all out.

Progress had been fine with the score at 149-3, Robert Laycock (47) amongst the runs, but the last seven wickets fell for just 30 runs, four of them, including Laycock, to Sam Hesmondhalgh who recorded figures of 4-0-6-4.

In reply Blackley’s problems came at the start of its innings and at 36-5 there was more than a mountain to climb.

Skipper Matthew Britton (42) was left to perform his usual recovery role but the task was far too much and, with Hashim Wajid taking 5-14, Blackley finished at 142 all out.

There was an end-of-season look to Mytholmroyd’s batting at Bradshaw, as it simply gave up the ghost in the face of the bowling from home team skipper Aaron Buckley.

He bowled throughout to record 11.3-6-21-6 as the visitors succumbed to 79 all out in 22.3 overs.

In reply, after the early loss of a wicket, Adam Spendalow (48 not out) then rubbed salt in the Royd wound by taking just 47 balls to ensure a maximum return for his team, the match concluded in less than 40 overs.

SBCI struggled at home to league leaders Triangle after electing to bat and could only manage 115 all out on another difficult track.

Had it not been for wicketkeeper Simon Wood (53 not out) it would have been much worse as nine of his teammates failed to reach double figures.

Nathan Madden (4-25) led the Triangle bowling, supported by Liam Turner (3-21). Despite losing two early wickets that was the end of SBCI’s bowling success as Christian Silkstone (61 not out) and Tom Watson (36 not out) eased Triangle to an eight-wicket win in the 19 th over.

Copley, struggling near the bottom of the table, also struggled to raise a team for the visit to Illingworth St Mary’s and conceded the match.

In the First Division at Luddendenfoot visiting Low Moor HT’s Mark Stokes (107 not out) doubled his season’s total as he and Masood Zaman (62) enjoyed an excellent sixth-wicket partnership of 153 runs, to rescue their team from 65-5 to a 40 overs total of 225-6. But that relief was short-lived as somehow the Foot chased down the target – ‘somehow’ very much being the operative word.

At 16-5 and 68-6 the odds must have been at least 50-1 against it scoring another 158 to win but up stepped Hayden Bruce with a fine innings in hitting 109 runs in 94 deliveries to take the score to 185-8.

Even then our Trinity insider reports that his team should still have won with the Foot requiring 41 runs for victory.

But that ‘somehow’ came into play as the last three batsmen, Thomas Hosker (47), Ryan Allan (11 not out) and Tom Scott (1 not out) completed the near impossible as the Foot reached a winning 226-9.

Low Moor’s secretary, Martin Jenkins, finished with figures of 12-2-38-5 .......plus a massive headache as he and skipper Lee Broadbent wondered how on earth their team had lost.

Full credit however goes to the Foot for the performance-of-the-day.

Struggling Oxenhope, not for the first time this season, failed to bat its full allocation and was bowled out by visiting Clayton for 135 in 32.5 overs.

It needed efforts from the middle order to even reach that total after being 58-5, with no less than six Clayton bowlers sharing the wickets.

If the visitors were expecting an easy ride to maximum points then it was in for a surprise.

No Clayton batsman managed to stay at the crease for too long and wickets fell at regular intervals so that, at 107-7, Oxenhope was in sight of its first win of the season.

However the tail wagged just enough to scramble to 141-8 as Riaz Usman cleared the boundary for a classic finish to the match.

It was hardly the Field of Dreams for Mount at its home encounter with Great Horton PC as, much like a few other matches, its top order failed badly as a score of 7-5 was soon being recorded.

There was to be no recovery in this innings however and whilst two middle order batsmen stayed for a period Horton required less than 18 overs to bowl out its hosts for only 39 runs.

Dominic Anderson (4-11) and Zafar Anwar (3-5) enjoyed a surprisingly easy afternoon. The visitors took less than 10 overs to finish the match, scoring 40-2, and maintaining its lead at the top of the table.

In the Second Division a dive into the records books was necessary for the match at Cullingworth, as Augustinians was skittled out for a meagre 14 runs in 12 overs.

It is easier just to state some facts from the match than create a report.

Cullingworth won the toss. Six Augustinians batsmen failed to score. Wickets fell at: 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 6, 6, 11, 14 and 14. No 9 batsman Abdul Hafeez ‘top’ scored with five runs.

Dave Robinson’s bowling figures were 5-2-11-5. The home team took 3.4 overs to score 16-0 and take maximum points.

The match was completed in just 15.4 overs, which is a League record, whilst a check is also being made on 14 runs being the lowest ever innings score.

Leymoor was also in deep trouble in its home fixture with Queensbury and will at least be relieved that its 50 all out was not the lowest score of the day.

Amazingly its first four batsmen all recorded ducks, which hardly produced a confidence vote for the remaining seven.

A couple of its lower order managed to reach double figures but the damage had been done at 11-6 and the innings closed after just 10.3 overs.

The wickets were evenly shared between Sammy Naylor (5-21) and Jack Clough (5-24). Queensbury knocked off the required runs in 13.3 overs and its 53-4 earned maximum points, the adjoining Walkers Arms welcoming some early trade.

Greetland skipper Mohammed Yousaf’s 41 runs was the mainstay of the innings at home to Southowram, as it struggled to 141 all out in the face of an excellent performance from the Rams’ Dean Crossley (5-21).

The latter was also in form with the bat as he missed out on a half-century by one run but there was plenty help from the top order as all four hit 20 plus runs to take only 32 overs to reach 152-4 and record maximum points.

The low-scoring in the division continued at Stones, where the home team managed to win its match against Bradley & Colnebridge as 20 wickets fell for only 196 runs.

Batting first Stones scored at a snail’s pace on a difficult pitch to reach 108 all out in 36.5 overs, four B&C bowlers sharing the wickets.

In reply the batting struggles continued in similar fashion and in his second spell Jack Westerby (5-30) took four of the last five wickets to fall as B&C was reduced from 74-5 to 88 all out to give Stones a 12-point return.

Premier Division:

*Booth 179, Blackley 142: pts 12-5. Mytholmroyd 79, *Bradshaw 79-2: pts 0-12. *Illingworth St Mary's w/o v Copley:

pts 12-0. *Sowerby Bridge 164-6, Shelf Northowram HT 165-9: pts 4-9. *SBCI 115, Triangle 119-2: pts 1-12.

Thornton 264-6, *Warley 138: pts 12-2.

First Division:

Low Moor HT 225-6, *Luddendenfoot 226-9: pts 5-10. *Oxenhope 135, Clayton 141-8: pts 3-12. *Mount 39, Great

Horton PC 40-2: pts 0-12.

Second Division:

Augustinians 14, *Cullingworth 16-0: pts 0-12. *Greetland 149, Southowram 152-4: pts 3-12. *Leymoor 50,

Queensbury 53-4: pts 1-12. *Stones 108, Bradley & Colnebridge 88: pts 12-3.