JER Lane have kept on the heels of Booth, 11 points adrift, with a 59-run victory at Triangle in the Spenser Wilson Halifax League Premier Division.

Imran Mirza hit 14 fours and five sixes in an unbeaten 113, which helped propel Jer to an impressive 297-8, and he added 78 for the third wicket with Jordan Laban (49) and 89 for the fifth with Simon Collins (30), despite the efforts of Nathan Madden (6-88). 

Triangle’s Michael Midwood, meanwhile is making a determined effort to win the ‘unluckiest player of the season award’ as he was out for the second time in 12 matches for 99 in their reply of 238 as Kieran Rogers took 5-70 and Mathew Johnson 3-34.

Copley just failed to reach a target of 236 set by home team Thornton, falling 12 runs short.

Michael Shanks blasted nine fours and five sixes in his 78, adding 107 for the fourth wicket with Joshua Hutchinson (47), and No 9 Ross Parr weighed in with 38 in their 235 as Oliver Thorpe took 5-101.

Copley replied with 223-8, with Greg Soames taking 4-69.

After their recent trials, Northowram Hedge Top had a very welcome home win, beating SBCI by seven wickets, with Oliver Hemingway’s contribution of 78 not out and Harry Talbot’s 6-73 being the highlights.

That win puts Hedge Top back level with Queensbury at the the bottom of the table as the latter lost for the first time in three weeks at home to Warley.

However, Queensbury did not go down meekly, scoring 257-7 on the back of 68 by Mohammed Altaf, 44 not out by Tom Watson and 42 by Gurdev Singh.

The visitors had to work hard for their 11 points, with Tyrone Schillar’s 82 not out securing the win ar 259-6.

Oxenhope appear to have drastically come off the rails as they dropped to a season-low eighth place after another loss.

Despite 32 from Joshua Fleetwood, only two other players made double figures in Oxenhope's 112, Matthew Hoyle taking 8-51, but Sowerby St Peter's only won by three wickets as Liam Dyson took 4-53.

In the First Division, Southowram surprisingly lost at Cullingworth on a wicket that proved difficult for batsmen, with the hosts thus closing within two points.

Cullingworth made 195, with opener Ben Burkill (40) and No 9 Phil Poole (49) coming closest to half-centuries.

Tom Belfield (41) was a lone star for Southowram with the bat as they could only muster 102 but that was good considering they were 39-7 as Graham Rankin (3-12), Dave Robinson (3-20) and Will Rankin (2-23) cashed in.

Sowerby Bridge retained their 12-point lead, with second-placed Blackley the margin ahead of Southowram.

The Bridge, who made 275-4, had no trouble defeating visitors Shelf by 104 runs at Walton Street, with the star performances coming from Joshua Wood (94) and Darren Chapman jnr (8-64).

Bridgeholme gained sweet revenge for their worst performance of the season in the reverse fixture at Great Horton Park Chapel, winning by 128 runs at Eastwood.

Chris Kibble (77), Hassan Mahmood (67) and Oliver Challis (63) were all in form with the bat, as were bowlers Oliver Davy-Day and Mohammed Asif with four wickets apiece.

In the Second Division, Birchencliffe moved above Low Moor Holy Trinity with a 45-run win at their hosts, thanks in the main to a sixth-wicket partnership between Akshay Potdar (42) and Usman Ghori (65).

As the Low Moor scorer wryly reported, ‘Graham Scarborough (54) was the only shining light’ for the home team.

Clayton had an easy 97-run victory over Leymoor to just keep in touch with the top two, some 17 points adrift.