Bradford League Div Two: Clash of giants

From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Monday 7th Jun 2004.

Bowling Old Lane have added a steely edge to their game.

Despite missing two of their main batsmen, they put in an excellent performance at Wagon Lane in this top-of-the-table clash.

The game ended pretty much honours even, although Bradford & Bingley took four points for a winning draw.

Bingley batted first after losing the toss in what were good bowling conditions. And the visitors immediately struck when Chris Wheeler was caught behind by Farhaad Raja off Mohammed Siddiq.

Sam Anderson followed quickly, this time off a caught and bowled by Siddiq, and the home side were struggling on ten for two.

Carl Sharp and Mark Beckett repaired the damage before skipper Zubair Najeeb clean bowled Sharp.

Bingley kept the scoreboard moving but failed to master Siddiq and Najeeb, and when Nasar Hussain came into action so Siddiq switched ends and wickets kept falling.

Hussain grabbed two for 17 in seven quick overs. But it was the division's leading wicket-taker Siddiq, who has 43 victims to his name this season, who finished with another haul of five.

Bingley had scored 158 all out in 45.3 overs with Beckett top-scoring on 26. That meant Old Lane got an extra four overs added to their innings.

But Old Lane skipper Najeeb was not happy with his side's fielding. "We dropped three catches. The fielding could have been a lot better," he said. And Siddiq was equally unhappy. "In the end I started to bowl yorkers to try to get them out without catches, but if you over-pitch, runs are easy to score. My side are always dropping catches," he said.

Siddiq bowled 22.3 overs and is looking to take 100 wickets in the season.

Old Lane began their innings well enough, with Mohammed Hanif and Haqueq Siddique putting on 42 for the first wicket. But then Bingley struck back with a vengeance and suddenly Old Lane were struggling on 54 for four.

New Zealander Wade Cornelius had failed to break through but the introduction of Matthew Cockshott swung the game. He bowled 19 overs and took four for 43 to ensure that the Division Two leaders were not going to reach their total. They finished 23 runs short with two wickets still intact. Amjid Khan was Old Lane's top-scorer with 34.

Windhill provided the shock of the day with an unexpected victory at high-flying Brighouse.

The visitors batted first and hit an entertaining 185 all out, with opener Darren Drake (53), Shahid Yousaf (31) and Gary Greenwood (30) doing the bulk of the scoring.

Brighouse, in reply, never got into the game and at one stage were struggling at 24 for four.

Jame Marchant (33) and Adam Stott (26) stopped the rot but Yousaf showed what a fine all-rounder he is by taking five for 34. Brighouse perished for 101 in the 37th over.

Keighley's surge up the table continued with a home win over Manningham Mills, Richard Robinson again took a starring role hitting 58 and then taking four for 26.

Keighley's 167 was too good for Mills, who were dismissed for 107. Morley came out on top in a high-scoring game at Salts, where the home side clubbed 197 thanks to a century stand by Zahid Bashir (54) and Mohammad Maroof (53).

But the visitors were also in an aggressive mood and reached their winning target for the loss of six wickets.

Atik Rehman scored a half-century and Thomas Pringle took six for 38 in Gomersal's convincing win at Great Horton. Esholt picked up maximum points after bowling out home team Drighlington for 52, Ben Lister taking six for 19, and Yeadon's troubles continued when they were beaten on their home ground by Hartshead Moor.

Moor scored 185 for nine and Yeadon were bowled out for 160. Ian Wardlaw took six for 22 off 11 overs, which included a hat-trick, the wickets falling on the last ball of his tenth over and first two balls of his 11th.

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