WITH just five matches left, Tong Park Esholt need to dust themselves down and get back the winning habit, starting tomorrow with their top of Aire-Wharfe League Division Two clash with Collingham.

Collingham have stormed into an 18-point lead at the top of the table on the back of five straight wins, inspired by Charlie Swallow who is just two runs short of 800 for the season.

Meanwhile, Park have won only two of their last five, had a match abandoned against Hall Park when they were on top, and lost two – against bottom of the heap Calverley and last week to Saltaire, who bowled them out for just 90.

Their previous low score was 92 when they met Collingham in early June and Swallow followed up a top score of 61 not out with a 6-37 spell.

But Tong Park Esholt have match winners of their own. Waleed Akhtar has more than 500 runs under his belt while Mahir Ali and Muhammad Khan can tear apart even the strongest batting line-up.

Third-placed Hall Park are only four points behind Tong Park Esholt and should come away from Ben Rhydding with a win. But they will be aware that four weeks ago their opponents dented the promotion chase of Addingham who can afford no more slip-ups.

A home match against the bottom of the table should be comfortable for Addingham, but Calverley are showing plenty of fighting spirit in their battle to stay up.

Saltaire, who are level on points with Addingham, face Steeton who still need points to be sure of staying above the drop zone.

Both Steeton and Calverley will be cheering on Olicanian in the hope they can keep Kirkstall in the relegation mix.

Short of a major upset, Otley should take another step towards being Division One champions when they entertain Follifoot.

Burley, who trail the leaders by 27 points and won’t give up until it is mathematically certain they can’t pip Otley to the title, face a Pool side that has battled hard to stay above the relegation spots.

Pool have managed to open up a 24-point gap but could see that slashed by either Beckwithshaw or Guiseley depending on who wins their crunch bottom-of-the-table clash.

Guiseley will be hoping for a repeat of the form that saw them beat the defending champions by five wickets earlier in the season.

Rawdon, with Marcus Berryman needing just five more wickets for 50, should be too strong for Ilkley, while Horsforth will expect to have a comfortable afternoon against Adel but will need to tame the division’s top run scorer David Foster.

The top four in Division Three – Bardsey, New Rover, Green Lane and Harden – are separated by 23 points and all have winnable matches against sides from the bottom half of the table.

Seven wins out of their last eight completed matches have given Bolton Villas a chance of snatching a promotion place but they have a much tough challenge against St Chads, who last week beat New Rover.

Thackley will be looking to complete the double over Skipton but must beware Ben Holderness who has scored more than 800 runs and last week took 5-62 against Bolton Villas.