Matthew Varley puts Treeton in a spin as Wakefield Thornes remain unbeaten

An 85-run success was comfortable in the end, but it did not look like being anything of the sort when they had been asked to bat first and found themselves reduced to 48-4 with Kieran Donnachie the fourth man out after he had made 24.

But middle order men Matthew Jordan and Matthew Taylor began a rescue operation as they combined for a 75-run fifth wicket stand.

Taylor fell for 35 and Jordan followed after he had reached 44, but handy contributions from Jamie Howarth (21) and Imran Mahboob (15no) enabled the Wakefield team to have something they could defend with the final total up to 201.

The total was maybe better than it looked as the outfield was slower than of late following rain in the build-up to the match.

Opening bowlers Matty Taylor and Mahboob had immediate success with a wicket each as Treeton began their reply.

But after surviving the early onslaught they took the score up to 65-2 before spinner Matthew Varley took charge of matters for Thornes.

First he took the crucial wicket of opener Dave Rodgers for 41 then he had the equally dangerous Jack Simmonite caught by Taylor for 27 and proceeded to run through the batting.

With Taylor returning to the attack to claim two more victims Treeton lost their last eight wickets for 51 runs to be all out for 116.

Varley finished with season’s best figures of 5-48 while Taylor claimed 3-36.

Thornes remain joint leaders of the division, level on points with Appleby Frodingham, who have also won all four of their league matches in 2022.

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Thornes’ second team was edged out by Hoylandswaine in the Crowther Cup.

Chasing their opponents’ big 250 score, they made a good fist of their reply, but fell 13 runs short, all out for 237 with 7.5 overs still remaining.

Adam Nasar gave them real hope of victory with a fine knock of 82 from 81 balls that included six sixes and five fours. Support came from Ayaz Ali Masood, with 43, and George Harrison (38), but although they had no trouble keeping up with the asking rate they ran out of wickets.

Harrison (3-31) and Rob Stephenson (3-50) did most to restrict Hoylandswaine after they had elected to bat first.

In a disappointing weekend for the Thornes second XI they were also beaten by Warmsworth in Division One of the Yorkshire Southern League.

The Wakefield team had won two of their first three league matches, but were not at the races this time when they were shot out for 100 as their decision to bat first did not work out.

James Donnachie (30), Jonathan Scott (19) and Joe Cuthbertson (12) gave them a decent start as they reached 58-1, but nine wickets went down for 42 runs with none of the batsmen that followed able to make any impression against an attack led by Lewis Brown (5-17).

Warmsworth did lose four wickets in their reply, with Harrison taking 3-51, but reached their target in just 23 overs for their first win of the season.