OXENHOPE shuffled their batting and bowling but still managed to defeat Clayton by two wickets in the Halifax League and confirm their opponents' relegation from Division One.

Clayton failed to establish any real platform against the visitors' nine bowlers and could only make 185, despite Joe Clough making 60, Adnan Shafique 39 and Joe Brown 31 as Spencer Mawer took three wickets and fellow junior Lewis Hopkinson two.

Graham Ellis (47) and Duncan Tetley (52) added 83 for Oxenhope's second wicket to make it 108-2 but they collapsed to 148-6 before triumphing off the last ball of the 40th over.

Denholme Clough won by eight runs in a high-scoring Division Two thriller at ten-man Shelf after making 256 and restricting the hosts to 248.

Imran Aslam (55) and Zhaid Yousaf (25) put on 84 for Clough's first wicket and there were also contributions from Mohammed Jamil (32), Mohammed Asif (25no), Adil Hanif (25) and Sultan Mahmood (22).

Oxenhope Seconds could not prevent visitors Mytholmroyd from getting the two points they needed for promotion from Division One.

The hosts were indebted to their young player of the year Nathan Storton, who made 57 not out of their 203 all out – his first senior 50 – and opener Stuart Jackson (48). Storton then took 3-38 in Mytholmroyd's 205-5.

Denholme Clough's Nazir Ahmed took 5-35 in ten-man Shelf's 98 but Darren Mead (39) was the only player to make double figures in Clough's reply of just 61.

Oxenhope CC award winners – First team, batting: Lewis Hopkinson, 418 runs, average 32. Bowling: Adam Bailey, 33 wickets, average 16. Second team, batting: Akashing Gopal, 410 runs, average 44. Bowling: Robuin Cusdin, 20 wickets, average 14. Young player of the year: Nathan Storton 194 runs, 17 wickets.