Relegation dogfight reaches fever pitch!

Aussie signing Sam Mills has 40 league wickets for Golcar as he bids to keep them in the top flight. Inset: Golcar skipper Steve Whitwam. Below: Sikandar Raza of Shelley relegated (with two coming up from the Jedi Sports Championship to retain 14 clubs in the top flight).

There’s a hell of a race developing in the Championship for promotion, with Barkisland (58) leading by four points from Almondbury Wesleyan (54), with Clayton West on 53 and Rastrick on 52.

So watch out for Sunday’s result between the Wes and Clayton West at Kaye Lane!

But in the top flight, three crucial fixtures whet the appetite this weekend – one tomorrow and the others on Sunday.

Firstly, Cawthorne play host to Steve Whitwam’s Golcar tomorrow, when the Colne Valley side will be hoping to put space between themselves and the three below.

Crucial to their hopes could be Aussie overseas signing Sam Mills, who has 40 league wickets to his name and is third in the Premiership list behind Hoylandswaine’s Gurman Randhawa (45) and Shepley’s Nasir Jamal (41).

That’s a fantastic effort from Mills in a struggling side and lends weight to Whitwam’s argument that it’s the batting which has let down Golcar this summer.

Then, on Sunday, it’s the Mirfield derby at the Memorial Ground between Moorlands and Mirfield Parish, while Golcar visit Shelley.

The Westerley Lane men have Zimbabwe Test player Sikandar Raza back in their line-up and he’s straight back in form, hitting 107 in their defeat to Broad Oak.

Raza will be key to their hopes of staying up, although Imran Zafar had seven wickets last week and Mo Bhoola the other three.