COWLING, promoted as runners-up in Division Two in 2018 and fifth in the top flight in 2019, are surpassing most people’s expectations this season in the Mewies Solicitors Craven League.

A fortnight after handing Embsay their first league defeat of the season, the Keighley Road club notched another big scalp, defeating visitors Oakworth by 104 runs.

Cowling won the toss and batted, and emphatically proved that that was the right decision by scoring 275-7.

Opener Wasim Hussain led the way with 77, Mohammed Shah Usman hit 60 in the middle order and Zahid Hussain (49no) was part of a wagging tail as only Harry Hollingsworth kept a lid on the scoring.

Zahid Hussain then ripped through Oakworth’s leading batsmen, and wickets fell regularly until No 7 Jack Davison (55), aided by Ellis Marshall (25) and Tom Fothergill (24), helped them to 171.

Hussain (3-35), Hamid Ullah (2-34) and Martyn Dalby (3-21) put the skids under Oakworth’s innings, and Cowling remain second in the table, four points behind Bingley Congs.

Haworth are fifth after an equally convincing home victory over Ingrow.

The men from Bronteland were sent in and rattled up 277-4, including a partnership of 128 for the second wicket between Jamie Rowell (71) and keeper Pete Gower (57).

Rowell, who hit eight fours and two sixes, had already added 56 for the first wicket with James Roper (32), and Gower also added 53 for the third wicket with Dan Trowers (82no, including eight fours and four sixes) as the pain continued for the visitors.

Mohammed Arshad did well to take 3-58 in the circumstances, but no-one in the Ingrow innings took command and they were dismissed for 141, with opener Shahid Ajmal top-scoring with 28.

Jamie Rowell was an easy choice as man of the match after taking 5-32, with Jacob Hudson chipping in with 3-46.

At the bottom, Sutton moved out of the relegation places after a crucial win at Haworth Road Meths.

The hosts chose to bat but were restricted to 169-5 in a game where only nine wickets fell, with Richard Walker taking 2-36 and George Elrick 2-59.

Sutton timed their reply superbly, triumphing by six wickets with two overs to spare, and skipper David Snowden was largely responsible for that by scoring 76, with John French (34) the other key batsman.

In the same way that Cowling are showing no signs of slipping up in the top flight, neither are Denholme in Division Two.

The in-form Toby Priestley only made 18, but that didn’t matter as several others contributed in their 213-8, including Richard Taylor (37), No 9 Adam Vaux (30no), Adam Taylor (29) and Hussnain Ali (23).

Openers Ali and Adam Taylor put on 58, and Richard Taylor and Priestley added 57 for the third wicket.

Visitors Skipton CI also started well, with a stand of 48, but Ian Henderson (68) lacked support and they were dismissed for 174, with Richard Taylor taking 4-47, Phil Poole Jnr 2-37 and Ryan Clark 2-28.

Runs were at a premium at Airedale Oval but the home side won’t mind as they beat Bradley by four wickets.

The visitors made 109 after winning the toss but that would have looked much worse without No 8 Zain Naeem hitting 50, including six fours, off just 45 balls.

No 10 Vince Grant weighed in with 19 not out, but before that Naeem had dominated a seventh-wicket stand of 51 with Junaid Ashraf, whose contribution was just eight.

Josh Coppack (3-22), Warren Coppack (3-28), Lee Rickaby (2-17) and Mohammed Qadeer Hanif (2-38) did the damage with the ball, but it needed a dominant innings like Naeem’s to help Airedale home.

Captain and keeper Alec Pue also scored 50, including four fours and three sixes, adding 45 for the third wicket with Warren Coppack (23no), who was there at the end in the 34th over.

George Bell (2-18) and Toby Meynell (2-19) were the main wicket-takers for Bradley.

Andy Pullen (51no) was another player to dominate an innings yet end up on the losing side as he scored more than half of Silsden’s 97 against Eldwick & Gilstead.

Joshua Waind (4-37) and Jack Roberts (3-41) had earlier had some joy with the ball in E&G’s 190.

The match between the leaders and the cellar dwellers was closer than might have been expected at Cononley.

The home side won the toss and made 145, thanks mainly to Scott Brook (39), Andrew Starkey (36), Herbert Starkey (24) and Charles Calvert (20).

The basement boys then took six wickets before leaders Gargrave got home in the 36th over, with Herbert Starkey completing a good match personally by taking 3-23.

Long Lee, third in the table, were easy winners over Bingley Congs II at Golden View, dismissing the visitors for 121 as Ahsan Rizwan (4-28), Stephen Butterfield (3-20) and Shahbaz Ahmed (3-26) cut a swathe through the batting.

Skipper Mark Day then scored 56 not out, putting on 63 for the second wicket with Zafran Ghaffar (34) in an eight-wicket victory that was completed in the 24th over.

Riddlesden are looking a good bet for promotion from Division Three.

The second-placed club scored an imposing 223-5 after winning the toss at Oakworth II, with Mohammed Qadeer (72no), Mohammed Kamran (35), David Robinson (39), Mohammed Gulnawaz (27) and Naveed Hussain (27) in the runs.

The hosts were again reliant on skipper Michael Scarborough, whose 62 not out helped them to 167-5, finding a good partner in Charlie Raby (28no) after opener Paul Carter had made 30.

Arfan Mahmood (4-26) was the pick of the six Riddlesden bowlers.

Under-14 Tom Rowell (23no) played his part as Haworth II defeated Sutton II at Royd Hill.

Sent in, Haworth made 182-8, with Darren Ellerton (55) and Neil Rollins (27) also contributing as Alistair Wallace took 4-29.

Nathan Coventry scored 36 for Sutton and Joshua Whiteoak 20, but the wickets started tumbling when third and fourth change Anthony Jozefek (4-29) and Rollins (5-14) had a go.

Glusburn, who are third on 14 points, made a mess of the Wilsden II batting after the hosts won the toss and batted.

They could make no more than 63 as whoever Matt Lloyd turned to came up trumps, with Irfan Khaliq taking 3-16, Mark Desgranges 2-0, Dom Mortimer 2-2 and Tamoor Munir 2-23.

Glusburn only lost two wickets in racing to victory in 8.4 overs, with Noman Hussain 34 not out and Steve Brown 29 not out.

Denholme II fared little better than Wilsden II, only totalling 78 at Hepworth & Idle II to lose by 144 runs.

The visitors were 65-3 but then collapsed, despite 30 not out from Oliver Fortes, Chris Dennison having earlier made 22.

Junaid Gullnawaz (2-30) and Dominic Broughton (2-32) did best with the ball for Cowling II at Thornton-in-Craven, but the home side still made 262-5 on the way to a 93-run victory.

Captain John Cleaver scored a defiant 81 not out for Cowling in their 169-5, adding 81 for the fourth wicket with Avijeet Ghosh (37).

The most exciting match of the day came in Division Four at Ingrow, who dismissed Airedale II for 70, with only keeper Trevor Cox (19) and skipper Jason Barnett (14) reaching double figures.

Naz Qasim (4-16), Abid Hussain (2-2), Rick Loftus (2-16) and Nick Hoyle (2-18) put the skids under the Airedale innings but Ingrow found things just as hard when it was their turn.

Muhammad Asadullah (22), Daniel O’Connor (12) and Graham Rankin (10) made double figures in the reply but it needed the last-wicket pair of Loftus and Hoyle to take Ingrow to victory.

Scott Ritchie doubtless could not believe that he was on the losing side after taking 6-7.

Keighley III only had eight men for the home derby against leaders Long Lee but were probably pleased with their efforts.

The depleted hosts scored 152, of which opener Mohammed Ramzan Qurban made 54, taking the innings into the 36th over before they were dismissed.

Long Lee replied with 152-7, but it needed an unbroken seventh-wicket stand between Ben Pennington (43no) and skipper Chris Mounsey (27no) to get them home as Rahim Hussain (3-30) and Cian Cryer (4-20) had them worried.

One of the stands of the day came at Glusburn, where Mark Johnston (82) and Brett Parkin (48) put on 123 for the third wicket at home to Hepworth & Idle III.

Johnston was only in for 81 balls, hitting seven fours and six sixes, and Akram Javed weighed in with 31 in their 213-6 before the third team were dismissed for 113, being unable to cope with Sam Britten (4-5) and Qasim Dar (4-23).

Oakworth III got in some useful batting practice, making 101-5 in their 40 overs at Skipton CI II, with Amin Khan making 39 not out and Louis Stephens 31.

CI had earlier made 141-9, with Sultan Khan taking 3-15 and Elis Jones 3-22.