Broad Oak dug deep to dispatch Armitage Bridge whose Premiership status was terminated with one match remaining. Golcar’s second consecutive success along with Almondbury Wesleyans’ defeat meant they finished the day tied on points and will face an anxious final matchday. Skelmanthorpe went down by one run at home to Barkisland to leave them with work still to do on the last day of the season. Meanwhile, relegated Delph & Dobcross continued to finish their season on a high note by overcoming Scholes in an entertaining smash and title-winners Hoylandswaine bounced back with a routine victory at Kirkburton.
Life at the bottom can be cruel and Armitage Bridge must face the harsh reality of relegation after they let a golden opportunity to win slip from their grasp in a home match controlled by the bowlers. Broad Oak’s safety was assured following a victory, laced with unease, after they recovered sufficiently from a near fatal start when choosing to bat first. Fletcher Coutts (41, pictured above) reversed his team’s fortunes after they slumped to 10-4 with home bowlers Jack Hinchliffe (2-27) and Maahir Eksteen (2-23) dominating the opening exchanges. When Fletcher was out, the visitors began to subside once again and Oak stalwart Tom McCreadie’s stubborn 27no down the order proved invaluable. Broad Oak’s lowly 121ao ought to have been adequately chased down on another day, but the pressure riding on the result of this match played a big part. The home side endured similar tribulations as they found themselves in early trouble at 11-3. Jaycub Curtling (24) desperately hung around but his departure extinguished any realistic hopes they may have had. Daniel Taylor thrived with 5-31 and Fletcher Coutts helped himself to three wickets and complete a satisfying day as Bridge were run through to finish 71ao.
Steve Whitwam’s brilliant performance for Golcar (pictured above) handed them a shot at safety on the final day, although their rivals Almondbury Wesleyans still have the upper hand. Second-placed Honley were brushed aside by a hungry home performance with league legend Whitwam applying a gloss finish to the result. The all-rounder took 5-26 and opening bowler Ryan Adams (2-36) to run through Honley’s tepid batting where Charlie Jakeman top scored with a gritty 45. Whitwam then scored a fine 60 to finish the job, with skipper Jack McNamara (30no) guiding his team home on 119-2.
Skipper Danny Glover steered his Shepley side to the win which secured their top flight status for next season, but threw Almondbury Wesleyans’ future into doubt. Shepley put in a commanding display as they forged a 228-7 first innings total that the home side couldn’t match. George Booth (42, pictured above), Jake Lynn (41) and Oliver Davidson (49) all made vital contributions with the bat to frustrate the home bowlers. The Wesleyan reply was an unmitigated disaster as they crashed to 29-7 with Danny Glover (3-19) presiding over the carnage. Matt Henshaw (37) and Daniel Moorhouse (34) dug in forlornly, but when they were both picked off in short space of one another, Shepley closed off the win as the hosts were bowled out for 117.
Skelmanthorpe were denied a victory which would nail down their place in the Premiership next season as Barkisland squeezed them out in a thrilling encounter. Several visiting batsmen built scores on the way to Barkisland’s 236-9, most notably Luke Bridges (47) and Cameron Van Rensburg (42no). Syed Rizvi took 3-37 for Skelmanthorpe who would curse their lack of ruthlessness by squandering a solid start to their reply. Jack Newby (71, pictured above) and Paul Cummins (68) put on 147 for the first wicket but a dreadful top order wobble knocked them off their stride. Numan Akbar (3-80) removed Matthew Smith (39) at a key moment but with the hosts needing just six to win from Akbar’s final over, they fell just two short of the win with Adam Rammell run out on the last ball to leave Skelmanthorpe 235-8.
Lucas Selby’s enigmatic half-century helped Delph & Dobcross to their second win of the weekend at home to Scholes who chased a lofty total. The youngster (pictured above) hit a fluent 57 which set a platform for others in a match reduced to 30 overs per side. Adnan Ghani (22no) and Luke Hagreaves (30no) finished the innings in bullish mood as Delph set 221-6. Scholes' reply centred round Benji Birkhead’s well-made 70 and Josh Ankers hammered a belligerent 48 from 29 balls until he ran out of gas with Scholes restricted to 209-9 in reply. Nayyar Abbas (6-56) enjoyed his best return with the ball for Delph and his second 5+ wicket haul of the weekend.
Muhammad Azzharullah, Hoylandswaine’s leading wicket-taker returned in devastating fashion at Riley Lane to blast through hosts Kirkburton. The veteran fast bowler claimed 7-37, the eleventh time he’s taken over five wickets in a match this season, as Kirkburton were well beaten. Asif Iqbal (22, pictured above) made sure of the win as Hoylandswaine replied to ‘Burton’s 71ao with 72-5.
Moorlands ended Thongsbridge’s winning streak by coming out on top in a high scoring encounter at Miry Lane. Visitors Moorlands, who had been fighting relegation for much of the season, are enjoying a purple patch of their own and their 289-7 was too much for Thongsbridge’s potent batting on the day. Shoukat Ali (83), Eddie Walmsley (79, pictured above) and Nadim Hussain (55) made winning contributions with the bat and the runs continued to flow in the reply. Promising youngster Patrick Armison made a pleasing 40 opening the batting for Thongsbridge and Pragam Sharma was out for 38. Kai Greig’s half century kept the home side in the hunt but they eventually ran out of track on 244ao with Eddie Walmsley and James Stanfield both claiming three wickets apiece for Moorlands.
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