Thornton beat Booth to deny them Halifax League title

Bradford side Thornton beat one of the contenders, Booth, by five wickets in a low-scoring encounter, and that allowed Mytholmroyd to claim the title by a margin of three points from Triangle, despite a 34-run defeat to Illingworth St Mary’s.

Triangle would have coasted to the title with a victory at home to Warley, but they lost by 44 runs.

The upshot was that Thornton only finished six points behind the champions themselves.

At the other end of the table, Bradshaw hammered already relegated Shelf Northowram Hedge Top by nine wickets.

That ensured they retained their top flight status, leaving Blackley and Sowerby Bridge battling it out at Lindley Road for survival, with the latter staying up after a thrilling one-wicket win.

The First Division saw Luddendenfoot joined Great Horton Park Chapel in the top flight by 0.22 of a point.

Sowerby St Peter’s, leading for most of the season, were the unlucky third place team.

The Foot, bowled out for 128 at comfortable champions Great Horton to lose by just two runs, must have thought they had blown their promotion chance.

But Sowerby failed to chase down 207-9 at Clayton, as they could only muster 201-8 in their reply.

The two relegated teams, Upper Hopton and Mount, lost to Low Moor Holy Trinity and Oxenhope respectively.

In the Second Division, champions Greetland lost at home to Old Town, so the focus switched to who joined them in next season’s First Division.

Southowram blew their chance, inexplicably succumbing to Stones by nine wickets after being bowled out for 51.

Stones had a chance of promotion themselves, but they needed Queensbury to lose at home to Cullingworth.

The hosts batted first and posted a score of 228-7, with skipper Oliver Challis leading the way with 101.

Cullingworth did not make it easy, with opener Richard Leach hitting 68, but they could only close on 211-6, as Gareth Walker took 4-37 to ensure Queensbury were promoted.