IT PROVED a good day for leaders Keighley as the All Rounder Cricket Bradford Premier League Championship Two promotion race intensified.

The Lawkholme Lane side didn't have a game but rivals Wakefield St Michael’s and Birstall were both beaten.

St Michael’s dropped from second to fourth after being bowled out for just 72 as they suffered an eight-wicket defeat at Buttershaw St Paul’s.

Ironically, Birstall moved up from third to second despite their 16-run loss at Northowram Fields, while Brighouse also climbed above St Michael’s after beating Liversedge by six wickets.

Keighley remain at the summit with 206 points, while Birstall have 186, Brighouse 185 and St Michael’s 184. Brighouse and St Michael’s have both played one less game than Keighley and Birstall.

St Michael’s were made to pay for a dismal batting performance in a round of fixtures re-arranged from the first day of the season when rain rather than a drought was the order of the day.

Amer Ayoub finished with 5-8 for St Paul’s after taking the last three wickets in four balls. Jordi Fettis (3-23) was the other key bowler for Saints.

Opener Kevin McDermott made 44 as St Paul’s cruised to victory for the loss of just two wickets.

Birstall looked to have a sound foundation to chase down Northowram Fields’ 240-6 when openers Ian Carradice (71) and Eric Austin (56) shared a stand of 106, but they failed to take advantage.

Josh Dodd (5-65) and Josh Bennett-Kear (3-41) took wickets at regular intervals as Birstall were dismissed for 224.

Northowram’s total of 240-6 was built around the contributions of John Lister (67no), Paul Bottomley (63) and Dru Patel (38).

A second-wicket stand of 119 between Chris Wynd (85no) and Deron Greaves (83) helped Brighouse to pass Liversedge’s 216-7 with just two wickets down.

Ahmed Khan (55no) top-scored for Liversedge while Will Atkin and Graham Winn both made 33. Abid Awain was the best of the Brighouse bowlers with 3-66.

The best individual performance of the day came from the Altofts all-rounder Farrouk Alam. He made an unbeaten 157 as his side made the day’s highest total of 306-3, and followed up with 6-30 as Spen Victoria were dismissed for 134.

Opener Craig Wood (69) dominated the early part of the Altofts innings but his efforts were put in the shade as Alam smashed eight sixes and 18 fours. He was joined in an undefeated fourth-wicket stand of 212 by Matthew Bishop (45no).

Spen were never in the hunt when they batted. Danny Simpson (35) and Ollie Davison (30) were the best of their batsmen.

East Ardsley’s barren run continued as they suffered an eight-wicket defeat at Bowling Old Lane.

Their batting again proved fragile as they were bowled out for 140. Their total would have been lower had it not been for a last-wicket stand of 55 between Adam Pearson (35no) and Richard Butcher (12). Skipper Farakh Hussain took 3-16 for Old Lane.

The home side raced to victory with openers Ahsan Butt (63) and Zeeshan Haider (46) leading the charge.