OAKWORTH had to fight to secure a victory in their latest match in Division One of the Craven League.

Facing visitors Hepworth & Idle’s 124 at Wide Lane, the home side were 51-7 but were rescued by a sixth-wicket stand by man-of-the-match Jack Davison (32) and teenage wicket-keeper Lucas Keslinke, who saw them to a two-wicket triumph with 42 not out.

Davison had earlier taken 4-10, with James Lee and Tom Fothergill each chipping in with 3-27.

All-rounder Matthew Courtman has started the season well for Ingrow but couldn’t help them turn the tide at home to Bingley Congs.

Firstly, he took 3-57 as Congs rattled up 237-6 and then made 55, including 12 fours, opening the reply as the home side finished on 191.

Ingrow skipper Tom Tetley also played a large hand, taking 2-27 and then scoring 68 not out at No.6, a blast that contained four fours and seven sixes.

Captain Martyn Dalby was similarly influential for Cowling, and this time finished on the winning side at home to Sutton.

The opener hit six fours and two sixes in his 52, putting on as many for the first wicket with Ben Davy (21), and remarkably there were three other partnerships of 50 or over.

Dalby and Laiq Ur Rehman added 50 for the third, keeper Abid Sharif (41no) put on 53 for the fourth with Ur Rehman, and Zahid Hussain (43no) and Sharif added 60 for the fifth in their 231-6 in an innings that contained 33 fours and three sixes.

George Elrick (4-47) was the only Sutton bowler to get a crop of wickets, and they made 194-8 in reply, with No.3 Richard Walker finishing on 77 not out, a knock that included six fours and four sixes.

Stuart Tillotson (34) helped him add 97 for the sixth wicket, and Dalby (3-30) was the pick of seven bowlers used by Cowling.

Haworth were distinctly second best at Embsay, being rolled over for 93 in reply to 179-6, Jacob Hudson taking half of their wickets to fall at a cost of 39 runs.

The visitors’ top scorer was No.9 George Jackson (22no), with only Harry Reynoldson (19) and James Roper (16) also making double figures.

Denholme, relegated from Division One in 2019, are one of four teams with a 100 per cent record in Division Two.

They made short work of Cononley’s batsmen, dismissing the home side for just 82, with Richard Taylor taking 4-12 and Phil Poole Jnr 3-14.

Only three of the hosts made it into double figures – Harry Parker (19), Charles Calvert (15) and Herbert Starkey (12) - and Denholme were seen to a six-wicket win by Taylor (30no) and Callum Gerrard (22no) in the 23rd over.

Bradley are one of the other 100 per cent sides, and were indebted to David Hunt for an outstanding knock at home to Skipton CI.

The captain and keeper scored 121, a 59-ball frenzy that contained 14 fours and nine sixes, No.9 Zain Naheem weighing in with a 26-ball 41 not out that included four fours and three sixes.

Facing a total of 215, CI crumbled to 72 all out as Vince Grant (3-13), George Bell (3-16) and Toby Meynell (2-15) proved potent.

Airedale’s innings at Silsden contained more even contributions, with their 205-6 including 46 not out by Mohammed Qadeer Hanif, 33s from Yusuf Mohammed and Simon Hunter, 29 from Alec Pue and 24 from Anthony Cox.

Lewis Middleton was the best bowler with 2-20, and Silsden were then bowled out for 184, with captain Jack Roberts unbeaten on 70 not out batting at No.3.

Mohsan Gulbhar hit 53, but there was little else of note as Hanif took 3-35 and Scott Ritchie 3-32.

Long Lee came about as close to victory at home to Gargrave, losing by 32 runs.

Stephen Butterfield took 5-33 in the home side’s 160 and Richard Ayrton played an equally lone hand when Long Lee batted, scoring 58 of their 128, hitting 10 fours and a six.

Even better than Hunt’s 121 was Matthew Lloyd’s 146 for Glusburn in Division Three.

He cracked 25 fours and a six in their 274-5 at Denholme II, Steve Brown chipping in with 43 and keeper Peter Schofield with 31 not out, with Lloyd putting on 73 for the first wicket with Iain Beattie (10), 100 for the second with Brown and 67 for the fourth with Schofield.

Denholme’s second string were then castled for 52, with only Matthew Shaw-Burns (12) and Adrian Shires (15) troubling the scorer to any degree as Asrar Sarwar took 5-11.

Haworth II lost a thriller by two runs at home to Embsay II, whose juniors fared well with the bat in their 161 as Danny Spencer took 3-46 and Tom Powell 3-48.

Skipper and opener Stuart Jackson laid the platform in the reply with 79, containing 11 fours and four sixes, but from a high-water mark of 121-3, they collapsed to 159 all out, with Tom Clifford-Loynes making 27 and Tom Rowell 10.

Cowling II were in the runs at Sutton, scoring 223-8, keeper Steve Dalby (48) and Shahid Khokhar (50) giving them a good start with a stand of 85.

Tahir Mahmood (21) and captain Aqib Chatta (25no) then played cameos, with Mark Stoneman the best Sutton bowler with 3-48.

The hosts could only make 102 after tea, with skipper Andrew Carrington (33), Chris Vollentine (12) and Phil Edwards (14) the only three to make double figures as they tumbled from 53-1.

In Division Four, there were defeats for Airedale II, in a thriller, Long Lee II, Glusburn II and Oakworth III but wins for Ingrow II and Bradley II.

Airedale II made a good start at home to Bingley Congs III, but went into decline from being 56-1 to 140-7, with skipper Ben Wooler scoring 26 not out, John Pollard 25 and Tim Crossley 23.

Congs then won by two wickets with two balls to spare, recovering from 64-6.

Gargrave II made short work of Long Lee, restricting them to 110-9, of which 50 came in a second-wicket stand between Phil Atkinson (11) and Ben Pennington (15), byes being the main contributor to that, with 29 in the innings in total.

Steve Tempest was their top-scorer with 20, Gargrave then triumphing by eight wickets in the 27th over.

Glusburn II and Ingrow II decided to play 35 overs per innings instead of 40, for some reason, and Ingrow made 158, of which opener Abid Hussain scored 31 and No.9 Naz Qasam 33.

Martin Robinson made 26 but they lost three wickets with the score on 71 as Qasim Dar (3-23) and Mark Pickles (3-25) cashed in.

Glusburn II made 146-8 in reply, with skipper Alan Coney top-scoring with 42, John Mortimer (22no) and Dar (21no) chipping in as Adrian Weatherall took 3-36.

Oakworth III went down by 17 runs at Hepworth & Idle III, who thus celebrated their home debut at Cambing’s ground with a victory.

David Picton (4-49) did his best with the ball as Hepworth & Idle made 175-7, and Oakworth’s reply of 158 was built around 47 by Zahid Bashir, 34 by keeper Steve Cox and 28 by opener Keith Gilert.

Bradley, who included seven juniors, triumphed by four wickets at Skipton CI, who were bowled out for 116 by Tom Eaglesfield (5-20), Donnacha Washington (2-13) and Jack Caton (2-23).

Under-18 Eaglesfield then scored 46 and under-17 Mark Nelson 28, adding 65 for the second wicket as the win was achieved in the 26th over.