Mason and Brice star in fine victory
Simon Mason struck five sixes and nine fours on his way to an impressive 96 not out, one better than his team mate Chris Brice who hit eight sixes and six fours as he finished unbeaten on 95. The pair combined to put on 172 for the third wicket.
Woodlands finished with a formidable 305-2 which proved too much for Undercliffe, despite useful runs from Matthew Bottomley (66), Zarak Khan (46) and Nawaz Sardar (45).
Brice, with 3-54, was the most prolific Woodlands bowler.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHanging Heaton moved up to second place following a comprehensive eight wicket win over bottom side Gomersal.
It is quite a feat for Heaton who were third-bottom of the table three weeks ago.
John Carruthers’ bowling revival continued as he took a fine 4-34 haul helping to reduce Gomersal to 194 with 15 balls remaining,
Greg Pickles tried to brighten the gloom for Gomersal with 58, supported by Andy Gorrod with 39 but they could not sustain the batting challenge.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdOpener Rob McFarlane led the Heaton charge as he reached to 90 with Mark Lawson adding to his big innings the previous week with a solid 46 while Joe Fraser added an unbeaten 37 as Heaton eased to 195-2 in 32.3 overs.
Cleckheaton showed they have a penchant for toppling the top sides, earlier in the season they brought down leaders Bradford and Bingley and they meted out the same treatment to Farsley who started the day in second place.
Iain Wardlaw celebrated his county call with a terrific haul of 6-33, including a first ball dismissal of Farsley’s dangerman Lorenzo Ingram. Craig Thornton, formerly of Cleckheaton, hit 58 against his old club, but it wasn’t enough as Farsley were reduced to 156 with 15 balls to spare.
Earlier John Wood was the backbone of his side’s total of 238-4. Wood made 86, supported by James Lee who made 62 not out against his former club, he shared an unbroken fifth wicket stand of 107 with Marcus Walmsley who was unbeaten on 43.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdEast Bierley made a welcome return to winning ways with a four wicket win against Bradford and Bingley at Wagon Lane.
The hosts elected to bat and may have regretted their decision when Chris Elstub, returning from injury, combined with Mohammed Azhar Ullah to reduce them to 33-6. The pair eventually bowled them out for 94 in 26.5 overs.
Azhar Ullah finished with a haul of 6-26 while Elstub had good figures of 3-34 including four maidens.
Kez Ahmed chipped in with 1-29.
In tough conditions Gavin Hamilton and Gharib Razak put on 14 apiece, Lee Goddard added 21 and Owens 20 as Bierley reached a match-winning 97-6. Bierley are third bottom of the table.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdSpen Victoria also found the winning touch when they travelled to bottom of the table Windhill in Division Two.
Windhill put up a steady fight as they laid down a target of 195-5.
Nadeem Mohammed led the way with an unbeaten 73 and was supported by Makesh Patel (45). Rob Burton claimed 2-19.
Spen were quietly confident in their reply with Nicky Rushworth leading off with 39 while Tosh Baker and Sean Raven shared the glory as they each put on 61, Raven was unbeaten as Spen reached 196 for the loss of seven wickets.
Hartshead Moor return to action this weekend as they aim to improve on their position fourth from bottom of the table.