Hamilton soars as Heaton sink

Bierley opener Gavin Hamilton was at the heart of their innings as he made a terrific 88 and had helped his side to 148-3 when he gave a catch to Nick Bresnan off leg spinner Mark Lawson (1-55).

Andrew Rennison contributed 36 and Muhammed Azhar Ullah made a useful 24 to help Bierley to 206-7 in a match reduced to 37 overs a side.

John Carruthers was the pick of the bowling with 4-39 from seven overs. Rob McFarlane claimed 2-56 to keep Heaton in the running.

A solid display by Heaton openers Lawson (28) and McFarlane (17) set the tone for Joe Fraser (35,) and James Stansfield who top scored with 40. Nick Bresnan chipped in with 34 but collectively it wasn’t enough and they were restricted to 197-8.

Luke Jarvis claimed 4-52 while there were two wickets each for Paul Hutchinson and Muhammed Azhar Ullah.

Bierley are up to fifth while Heaton slip back to 10th, third bottom, though they hold a lead of 44 points over second-bottom Baildon and are 61 ahead of bottom club Gomersal.

Another nail was put in Gomersal’s coffin after they lost a crucial match with Manningham Mills, who started the day third-bottom, 52 points ahead of Gomersal.

In a match restricted to 42 overs Gomersal asked the home side to bat.

Farakh Hussain (33) gave Mills a solid appearance but it was Gomersal’s inability to halt the progress of Gulsheraz Ahmed which proved the difference between the sides as he raced to an unbeaten 104. His half-century came off 43 deliveries but in an accelerated second half of the innings he reached his century off a further 16 deliveries as Mills set a challenging 245-7.

Adam Greenwood was resolute for Gomersal to take 3-82 from 13 overs while Ben Platt took 2-70.

Gomersal’s reply was restricted to 126 with Greenwood top scoring with 28, Greg Pickles added 25 and Jack Seddon 24. .

Cleckheaton clung on to second spot behind leaders Woodlands despite a surprise 86 run defeat to Bradford and Bingley at Moorend.

The Bees were put in to bat and Cleckheaton’s opening bowlers had them struggling at 46-4. Iain Wardlaw finished with 3-66 and James Lee 3-35.

However Bradford and Bingley steadied the ship thanks to 39 by Naweed Ghany, Matthew Duce made 24 and Chris Thompson added 51.

Cleckheaton’s previously strong batting had a collective off day. John Wood top scored with 24 as his side were reduced to 111 in 23.5 overs.

Thompson finished with a fine 3-17 but Scott Etherington’s three wickets only cost 12 runs.

Cleckheaton are 33 points behind Woodlands but their lead over third-placed Pudsey Congs is down to 10 points.

Woodlands showed a resilient streak against second-bottom Baildon at Jenny Lane.

Scott Richardson (Snr) made 39 but the middle order showed some frailty as Woodlands were reduced to 98-7. Usman Salim rescued things with an unbeaten 37. There was also a typical whirlwind innings of 45 by Sarfraz Ahmed as Woodlands set a target of 190-8 in 40 overs. Baildon’s Mushtaq Ahmed claimed a fine 3-14.

Woodlands’ impressive opening attack of Pieter Swanepoel( 4-34) and Srafraz Ahmed (4-11) had Baildon floundering at 3-11, they finally finished on 111 in 31 overs.

A second successive win has left Spen Victoria ninth in Division Two.

Spen were put into bat by second-bottom Brighouse and they produced a very respectable total of 180 in 44.2 overs.

Nicky Rushworth (21), Tosh Baker (20) and George Deegan (29) made useful contributions. A captain’s innings of 64 by Rob Burton set Spen up.

Burton secured the victory when he claimed an impressive haul of 6-24 with Joel Pollard taking 3-37 to reduce Brighouse to 79 in 28.2 overs.

Hartshead Moor were invited to bat by Lightcliffe and were swiftly removed for 83 with Evan Edwards doing the damage with a haul of 4-37.

The home side’s openers, Josh Wheatley (49) and Chris Taylor (33), eased to their target in 24.1 overs.