A fantastic century by George Bardon damaged Armitage Bridge’s promotion chances and gave struggling Shelley a boost at the foot of the table. Delph came out on top as they took on Denby in a huge runfest for both teams and Golcar remained in the hunt by beating Rastrick. Holmfirth battled back to earn a tie with Lascelles Hall and Meltham gave themselves some much-needed oxygen at the bottom away at Clayton West who replaced them. Birkby’s brisk batting style eclipsed Slaithwaite’s pedestrian methods to move up to fourth.
George Barden (above) struck a sublime ton to scupper Armitage Bridge whose inconsistent league campaign suffered another setback. Shelley’s Faisal Usman got stuck into the hosts and came away with 6-36; his best return for the season. Collapsing to 22-4 cost Armitage Bridge dearly but they recovered to post a respectable 199 from 40 overs. Alec Jakeman’s half-century and Omar Shaffique’s 40 helped assemble a testing target but thanks to eye-catching opening bat Barden, Shelley produced their best performance of the season. The young prodigy slammed 120 from 116 balls with 14 fours and 4 maximums plundered while he accelerated. Reece Abrams made 27 in support offering the stage to Barden to topple the home side. They reached 200-3 inside 38 overs.
A pristine playing surface and some destructive batting produced some pyrotechnics as Championship leaders Delph shrugged off a challenge made by third-placed Denby. Delph have won the toss in all but one of their league matches and this allowed them to step up first and put in an innings designed to take the game away from Denby. The prolific Mosun Hussain (above) registered his second century of 2023, with 102 in 100 balls (15 fours, 3 sixes). Jack Hague’s 53 wasn’t to be underestimated as Delph racked up the runs and Nayyar Abbas arrived to add brutality to their game as the visitors put up 309-5 in 40 overs. Skipper Nathan Jones was away so it was left to Lucas Selby - their youngest ever skipper - to negotiate the victory. Denby preyed on bowling weaknesses with Adnan Ghani out nursing an elbow injury. Khaleel Ahmed hit a brisk 66 and home captain Tom Sanders added 45. The game was in the balance until Daniel Jones snared the dangerous Poorna Prangige for 71. Selby meanwhile, ran through the rest to finish with 5-73 and leave Denby short on 278ao.
Three half-centuries were scored at Golcar as they clocked up 277-6 at home to Rastrick. Zac Hurley (77), Steve Whitwam (60) and James North (67, above) menaced the Rastrick bowlers with Muhammad Ali also scoring 41. Zeeshan Khan claimed three wickets for the visitors and kept themselves in the game with a confident reply. The balance of power swung when Rastrick lost three wickets for one run, including Shrikant Wagh for 42. Jacob Waterson’s superb spell of form continued with another half-century - the fourth time in succession he’d reached the benchmark. The wicketkeeper-captain finished on an unbeaten 83 as Rastrick were restricted to 220-7.
Spirited Holmfirth battled back to earn their second tie of the season at home to Lascelles Hall. Ibrar Hussain (above) put in a stunning performance with the bat to help set an imposing 220-6 total in 40 overs. Hussain rescued Holmfirth from 66-5 with a brilliant 89no after Seb Allen had earlier contributed 32. The visitors were well up with the rate after Tom Addy (43) and Marlon Rodrigo (38) started well. The removal of Daniel Russell (59) by Max Gummerson (3-61) proved a turning point and when Hardeep Singh was then run out for 36, it left two new batsmen exposed. They couldn’t then squeeze the winning runs and Lascelles Hall had to settle for a tie on 220-7.
Free falling Clayton West landed at the foot of the table replacing Meltham who landed a damaging defeat on them with a gutsy second innings batting performance. Mark Atkinson (79) built on the earlier work of opener Alex Clegg (44) to help set a competitive score of 232ao, with long-serving all-rounder Khuram Sajjad (above) collecting 4-81 for Meltham. However the visitors put in a shift to snare their second win of the season, which moved them off the bottom at the expense of the hosts. Henry Wise and Mark Askham for the ball rolling with 33 and 27 respectively. Captain Sam Clegg hold the middle order together with 10 and Sajjid took the plaudits with a brilliant 58no. James Rawlinson scored a crucial 26 lower down to seal their win on 238-7..
Slaithwaite subsided to their third successive loss as Birkby’s remarkable campaign saw them rise to fourth in a win at Hill Top and move them above their opponents. Slaithwaite may have been lackadaisical in their approach as Finlay Brook, Blair McKenzie and Zane Gilder all bagged steady half-centuries on their way to 213-3. The visitors went about their task in more urgent fashion as Chaurdry Anwar Ul Haq notched a fluent 68 with professional Khalil Khan hitting an unbeaten 61. Abbas Khan’s (above) brisk 48no won it for Birkby with nearly eight overs remaining, putting 91 runs on for the third wicket, as they replied with 215-3.
