CAN Aire-Wharfe League Third Division club Tong Park Esholt defy the odds and reach the final of the Waddilove Cup by beating North Leeds on Sunday?

The odds are clearly stacked against them.

North Leeds are comfortably in the middle of Division One, and in Larry Audain and Farhan Khan have two of the best all-rounders in the league.

But Park are in hot form, as they showed when dominating their closest rivals Hall Park last week, and will be full of confidence, having already knocked out three sides from higher divisions, including Rawdon, who are a match for North Leeds.

And in their former guise as Tong Park, they have a good cup pedigree, having won the trophy twice – in 1968 and 1990 – and appeared in a semi-final as recently as 2007.

When it comes to cup experience, however, few can match Otley and Burley, who meet in the other mouth-watering semi-final.

Otley have won the trophy a record 12 times, while Burley are just three wins behind them.

This will be Otley’s fourth successive semi-final; for Burley, it is their sixth in seven seasons.

Otley will start as favourites to repeat their early-season victory when Ricky Halloran took 6-51, but it would be a brave man to bet against a side with the firepower of Nick Brook, Ed Brown and Jason Wright.

Tomorrow (Saturday) much of the attention will focus on two Second Division top-of-the-table clashes that could have a big say in who goes up at the end of the season.

Having led for most of the campaign, Guiseley have had a mid-season blip.

They went down to Colton and were not at their best in last week’s abandoned game against struggling Harden. Now they are nine points adrift of Colton and only one ahead of Knaresborough, where they play tomorrow.

Knaresborough have lost five matches – more than any other top-four side – but are in a strong position because of topping the bowling bonus points by a considerable margin, thanks to performances from players like Sam Davies, who took five wickets in the win over Addingham last week.

Calverley’s win over Adel put them up to fourth place, 21 points off the promotion spots, making their visit to Colton a must-win if they are to mount a challenge.

Colton have strength in depth but Calverley are playing with confidence, and in Barrie McCormick, Naveed Panesar and Ben Waller have players who can swing a game their way.

Bottom club Harden showed against Guiseley that their cause may not be lost but they need to win games like tomorrow’s visit by ninth-placed Ben Rhydding, who have struggled for runs in their last two matches.

Thackley are hovering only four points above the drop zone and badly need to find some form at Addingham, whose promotion challenge was dented by defeat against Knaresborough.

After Iqbal Khan’s five-wicket haul gave them a comfortable win over Illingworth, Skipton will be expecting another victory against Adel.

Otley should reinforce their position as Division One front-runners at North Leeds, while Burley will expect to keep up their challenge with a win at Steeton.

Having had impressive displays against the top two wiped out by the weather, Pool will certainly be hoping for at least the chance of a full run at Ilkley in what should be an entertaining match.

As should Horsforth’s visit to Rawdon with five of the division’s top ten batsmen on display, including Byron Boshoff, who already has more than 500 runs under his belt.

While Division Three leaders Hall Park will be favourites to win at Silsden as long as they can contain Shaun Brentnall and David Brook, Tong Park Esholt face a trickier match against the strong attack of Olicanian, led by Ed Broadley, who already has five hauls of four wickets or better this season.

Green Lane should be far too strong for Upper Wharfedale, while Menston will be expected to win against Alwoodley.

Bolton Villas, who have slipped to only three points above the re-election zone, face New Rover and need their powerful bowling line-up to be in top form against a side capable of big scores.