Premier pair singing in rain

Games at Thornton, Warley and Jer Lane didn’t start and the teams involved should receive two points instead of four, as voted at the last AGM.

Sowerby and Oxenhope banked 12 and 11 respectively to surge up the table to fourth and fifth places while champions Booth managed to pick up six points at SBCI and now lead the Premier by eight points from Jer Lane.

Sowerby added to Queensbury’s early season worries with a wide-margin win, making 203-8 and then dismissing the visitors for 63.

Matthew Hoyle took five for nine and six visiting batsmen failed to trouble the scorers.

Promoted Oxenhope were seven wicket winners at home to Copley after limiting their hosts to 132 for eight.

The visitors were put in to bat and after a couple of breaks due to rain the game was reduced to a 30 overs per side.

Copley had no answer to young seamer Joel Fothergill, who took five for 30, Robin Cusdin claiming the other three wickets .

With more rain threatening, Josh Fleetwood (66) and Craig Bartlett (51 no) smashed the ball to all parts of the ground and the target was reached in only 16.3 overs.

Booth will have left SBCI frustrated, after having their hosts 33 for five in reply to their 182 for eight off 25 overs.

Hasnain Wajid made 50 and skipper Richard Laycock hit 48 not out and followed up with a couple of wickets, while Usman Saghir got the other three.

Blackley were the only winners in the First Division, beating Cullingworth by seven wickets to go third, two points behind their visitors and eight behind leaders Sowerby Bridge.

Ben Burkill top scored with 46 in Cullingworth’s 162 for four off 26 overs.

Jon Stenson (59) shared stands of 66 with Tom Baxter (35) and 87 with and Macaulay Shiel (62 no) as Blackley won with three balls to spare.

Games at Great Horton, Shelf and Sowerby Bridge fell to the weather.

Illingworth and Bradshaw have a handy lead over the rest in Division Two after comfortable wins.

Illingworth took advantage of breaks in the rain to achieve a crushing win against Old Town, who lost their last six wickets in seven balls with no addition to the score.

The hill top ground avoided the worst of the local rain but even then a delayed start reduced the game to 40 overs each.

A second wicket partnership of 50 by Adil Shah and Mohammad, who both made 23, left Old Town reasonably placed at 76 for three.

A second short break for rain appeared to reinvigorate the visitors after some wayward bowling early on and the home side only added two more runs before their dramatic collapse.

Abdul Baig (12) was bowled by Kieran Heaton, Sajid Mahmood fell first ball to a brilliant one handed diving catch at third man by Luke Brooksby and Heaton made it three in four balls when he bowled Istikhar Ahmed.

Luke Brooksby then took a hat-trick off the next three balls, the last wicket coming from a stunning diving catch from keeper Dan Patchet.

Brooksby finished with five for nine off just four overs and Heaton three for 17.

Bradshaw had a larger target of 186 to chase following a half century from Clayton opener Tim Evans, Adam Buckley taking five for 75.

It perhaps wasn’t quick large enough for Bradshaw’s Matthew Crowther, who was four short of a century and still at the crease when victory was achieved.

Third-placed Outlane missed their chance to stay with the top two when losing a shortened match at home to Luddenden Foot.

Outlane made 127 for five and Jamie Hothersall’s 37 helped Foot win by four wickets.

The only other match to start was at Greetland where Low Moor HT batted for just 3.5 overs before the match was abandoned.

Premier Division: *Jer Lane v Northowram HT – no play: pts 2-2. Copley 132-8 (Fothergill 5-30), *Oxenhope 133-3 (Fleetwood 66): pts 1-11. Sowerby St Peter’s 203-8 (Bruce 44, Standeven 41, Altaf 4-69), *Queensbury 63 (Hoyle 5-9): pts 12-2. Booth 182-8, *SBCI 33-5 – rsp : pts 6-4. *Thornton v Mytholmroyd – no play: pts 2-2. *Warley v Triangle – no play: pts 2-2.

First Division: Cullingworth 162-4, *Blackley 167-3: pts 2-10. *Great Horton PC v Southowram – no play: pts 2-2. *Shelf v Stones – no play: pts 2-2. *Sowerby Bridge v Bridgeholme – no play: pts 2-2.

Second Division: *Birchencliffe v Upper Hopton – no play: pts 2-2. Clayton 185-8 (Evans 53, Aslam 46, Buckley 5-75), *Bradshaw 187-3 (Crowther 96*): pts 3-11. Low Moor HT 14-0, *Greetland dnb – rsp: pts 2-2. *Leymoor v Mount– no play: pts 2-2. *Old Town 78 (Brooksby 5-9), Illingworth St Mary’s 79-2 (Cook 40*): pts 0-12. *Outlane 127-5, Luddenden foot 128-6 (Westwood 4-32): pts 2-10.