Disappointment in cup and league for Lightcliffe firsts
LIGHTCLIFFE WERE denied their first win of the Bradford League season when they were edged out by Championship One rivals East Bierley.
Batting first the hosts were bowled out for 155, with Alex Stead in fine form for his 37 and 15-year-old Noah Chapman putting in another fine display.
Smart fielding and a run out by Subhaan Amaar and an lbw scalp for skipper Rob Burton had Bierley in trouble early on but Walter and Lockwood added 71 for the third wicket.
Walter was eventually caught by Jonny Whiteoak to give vicecaptain Jack Hendy the first of his four wickets. Whiteoak then took two wickets in successive deliveries and, with Hendy taking a further two, East Bierley slumped to 137-7, giving Lightcliffe hopes of victory.
However, the visitors dug in and the ninth wicket pair of Brown and Hebden saw Bierley home.
On Sunday, Lightcliffe entertained Premier League Wrenthorpe in the first round of the Priestley Cup and suffered their second narrow defeat of the weekend.
Both teams struggled and when Wrenthorpe lost their seventh wicket at 65, chasing 100 for victory, the home side were favourites.
Medium-pacer Alex Stead and slow left-armer Peter Dobson had just taken two wickets each, building on the earlier good work of opening bowlers
Jack Hendy and Jonny Whiteoak.
There was much playing and missing and little scoring until a flurry of fours eased the pressure and the eighth wicket pair were able to see Wrenthorpe into the second round with three wickets intact.
Earlier, Stead had again been in fine form with the bat, topscoring with 39. He shared partnerships of 33 for the third wicket with Jockey Wilson and 26 for the fourth with Noah Chapman. However, the batting collapsed from 85 at the fall of the fourth wicket to 99 all out.
Lightcliffe seconds also suffered defeat in their ran-affected clash at East Bierley.
Lightcliffe made a respectable 172 in which opener Michael Brooke made 47, adding 70 for the second wicket with vicecaptain Evan Edwards. Conor Butterworth’s 37 included four successive sixes.
The home side were well on their way to victory, despite a wicket apiece for Shoaib Hassan, Butterworth and Marcus Kelly when rain halted play. After a reduction in their target the home side were able to reach the 153 required without further loss.
■ Rastrick registered their first success of the Huddersfield League Championship season with a hard fought victory at home to Clayton West.
West were dismissed for 128 with Abdullah Khan and Sunil Singh claiming early wickets and Singh going on to claim two more to reduce the visitors to 54-4.
A mini batting revival followed but two wickets each for Jack Pearson and veteran Richard Smith ended the Clayton resistance.
Rastrick then put on 67 runs for their first wicket with Majid Khan (56) finishing the job in Rastrick’s 130-7 reply.
It was another tough afternoon for a youthful Rastrick seconds team in their trip to Lepton. Only Alex Bracher (23) and Jasraj Sangha (20) made any impact as the young side eventually fell to 69 all out.
Rastrick’s bowlers struck early with Jasraj Sangha taking a fine catch at point off young opening bowler Edward Overend but this was to be their only success as Lepton completed a nine wicket win.
Rastrick U15s triumphed at home to a strong Golcar side in their opening match of the season.
Rastrick amassed a competitive total of 111-3 from 20 overs with Archie Noon (31 retired) top scoring, supported by Logan Swann (17), Joshua Boston (12), Mahleb Mahmood (19no) and Ayan Zafar (17no).
Two early wickets for Ayan Zafar and crucial wickets from Ethan Hawtin, Rhys Curnick and Mahleb Mahmood sent Golcar packing on 97-7.
ONLINE: Visit our website for more sports news.