Pontefract Cricket League: Brown stars as Calder Grove move up to second

Brown (5-35) and Holgate (4-6) combined to bowl out Horbury Bridge for 106 in reply to 157 with the result lifting Grove into second place.

Brown also did well with the bat, hitting 36, while skipper Josh Buxton contributed 41. Bridge’s best performers were Andrew Waterson (4-43) and Ben Terry (37).

Another derby game in Division Three saw fifth-placed Notton earn the bragging rights with a 15-run success against Old Sharlston seconds.

Sharlston were dismissed for 151 in reply to 166-8 as Colin Scattergood (52) and Michael Harwood (36) top scored and Brett Russell (4-22) led the Notton attack.

Notton’s innings included contributions from Dale Crowder (37), Qasar Khan (32) and Luke Wilson (25) while Luke Reeves claimed 4-26.

Newton Hill beat Stainborough by 17 runs after posting a 163 total with Tom Bilsborough hitting 35 and Gary Wilcock 31.

Stainborough were all out for 146 in reply as Alex Boardman recorded impressive 6-31 figures and Qasim Hussain took 3-33.

A disappointing day in Division One saw Crofton Phoenix, Streethouse and West Bretton all suffer defeats.

Despite a battling 31 from skipper Zamurad Khan, Crofton were bowled out for 132 to lose by 49 runs to Askern Welfare, who made 181-8 as Muhammad Abrar took 4-38.

Streethouse were up against title challengers Hatfield Main and put up a good batting display in making 225 with Amjad Ali smashing eight sixes in a 51-ball knock of 80.

But Main’s batsmen also found conditions to their liking as they reached their target with six wickets to spare.

Fifth-placed West Bretton lost ground on the teams above them as they went down by nine runs in a thrilling game with Hundhill Hall.

They came close to pulling off a great run chase, but were all out for 248 in reply to 257 with Jonny Winwood unlucky to fall two short of a century after a 77-ball knock that included six sixes and nine fours.

Joseph Gott also contributed 30no while Mohamed Uvais was the pick of Bretton’s bowlers with 4-45.

Good batting from Tanvir Bashir (66) and Aakash Dutta (64) set up Nostell St Oswald for a victory in Division Two.

It was a close run thing, however, with opponents Brodsworth Main getting to within five runs of Nostell’s 220-9 total.

David Merryweather’s 107 almost swung the game for Main, but the Nostell bowlers stuck to their task with Tokir Bashir taking 3-43, Usman Bashir 2-39, Dutta 2-71 and Tanvir Bashir 2-59.

Old Sharlston went down by 50 runs as they attempted a big run chase against Whitley Bridge.

Chasing their opponents’ 287-4, they were all out for 237 despite contributions from Danny Bullock (40), Zack Brown (36), Dale McMullan (35) and Dan McLeod (34).

Denby Grange lost by eight wickets to Hemsworth MW seconds in Division Four after being restricted to 168-9.

Their total did include a big contribution from opener James White, who hit 11 fours in his knock of 92.

Normanton St Johns regained top spot in Division Five after a six-wicket success against Knottingley Town.

Kumar Gadhraj (38) brought them home after they had bowled Town out for 107 with Suleman Rayat taking 3-1 and Ricky Crossley 3-25.