STEETON remain rooted to the bottom of Aire-Wharfe League Division A after they were put to the sword by pace-setters Beckwithshaw.

Asked to bat first on a rainy day, the unbeaten visitors scored at over eight runs per over to amass 225-3 in 28 overs, before declaring with full batting points.

Only two of the Steeton bowlers exercised even a modicum of control, James Emmott being the pick with 2-68 from 11 overs, including the wicket of 61-ball centurion John Inglis (107). The other successful Steeton bowler was spinner Tom Stead (1-35 from 7 overs).

The Summerhill Lane side's reply started positively as Adam Hardwick made the most of his promotion from No 8.

He shared an excellent opening partnership of 46 with John Akrigg, who contributed 22 from 55 deliveries.

Hardwick top-scored for Steeton with 26 from 68 balls but wickets fell regularly as the hosts were bowled out for 117 in 39.2 overs. Andrew Foulds chipped in with 21 as Eugene Burzler (5-33) was chief destroyer.

Zarshad Khan marked his move to Menston by masterminding the destruction of his former club Silsden in Division Three. His undefeated 31 helped Menston to 193-7 (Shaun Brentnall 2-47, Matt Shuttleworth 2-22) and he then combined with Nadeem Hanif (4-26) and took 3-20 as Silsden crashed out for 59.

The rain halted Harden’s chase of Follifoot’s 177-7 in Division Two, which included a 4-46 spell from Paul Quinlan. Tom Cummins hit a half century in the reply but a halt was called with Harden on 91-2.

Second teams

Steeton struggled to a below-par 132 all out at Beckwithshaw as Chris Luxton (36) and Jack Pearson (37) were the main contributors.

In reply Steeton had the hosts reeling at 19-2 but that was the extent of their success as the hosts cruised to their target without losing another wicket in 30.5 overs.

Harden dismissed Follifoot for 143 (Paul Townsend 66no) as Richard Falkingham took 4-39 but the visitors fell short on 105 despite 34 from David Bower.

Silsden lost by five wickets at home to Menston in a low-scoring encounter. Cameron Knowles (32) and Tom Berry (24) were top scorers for the Cobbydalers as they could only reach 116 all out and the total was passed by the visitors in 24.3 overs.