Pontefract Cricket League: Calder Grove's promotion hat-trick

Calder Grove players are all smiles after clinching promotion in Division Three of the Pontefract League - their third promotion in successive years.

Having risen from Division Five, the club is now looking forward to seeing how they fare in 2022 in Division Two. They ensured a runners-up finish for this year when cruising to a nine-wicket win against a Newton Hill side who were relegated.

Jake Holliday (81no) and Alex Brown (42no) brought Grove home past their opponents’ 132 total.

Hill looked to be heading for a good score before collapsing after Gary Wilcock made 51 and Samuel Foxy 45 against the bowling of Thomas Buxton (5-25) and Farrukh Sultan (3-45).

Notton wrapped up their Division Three season with an 105-run win over Featherstone Town that confirmed their fourth place finish.

After being put in, they responded well with an 196-run stand for the second wicket between Qasar Khan, who hit 119, including 19 fours, and Luke Wilson, whose 75 included eight boundaries.

Their eventual 233-6 total proved too big for Featherstone to chase as the bottom of the table team were all out for 128, Alex Hughes (5-9) leading the Notton attack.

Pledwick finished in sixth after losing their last game to champions Fenwick.

They looked set for victory at half-way after bowling their opponents out for 84 with Matthew Clegg (6-45) and Conrad Burdekin (4-38) sharing the wickets.

But Pledwick's batsmen also struggled and they fell seven runs short, all out for 77 despite 29 from George Tinker and 20 by Peter Thompson.

Horbury Bridge were all out for 172 to lose by 25 runs to Ackworth seconds.

After dismissing their opponents for 197, with Thomas Rogers taking 4-39 and Jack Waring 3-14, Horbury were then bowled out for 172. Thomas Allatt (45no) and Jack Lonsdale (37) top scored.

The result meant Bridge finished third from bottom.

Normanton St John's are promoted as champions in Division Five after they completed their season with a six-wicket success against Rothwell seconds.

After restricting their opponents to 113-6 they knocked the runs off in 17.3 overs with Kumar Gadhraj (35) and Ebrahim Patel (27) top scoring.

In Division One, Fairburn edged out Ackworth for the title with West Bretton finishing sixth, Streethouse seventh and Crofton Phoenix second from bottom to be relegated.

Bretton won their final game by five wickets after restricting Hooton Pagnell to 198-9 with Anthony Scully claiming 4-58.

Tom Clifford led the successful Bretton reply with an unbeaten 105 that saw him hit 13 boundaries along the way.

Streethouse were all out for 102 to lose by 43 runs to Hemsworth MW.

Asad Bukhari (43) top scored while Craig Ellison (5-19) did most to restrict Hemsworth to 145.

Crofton Phoenix's stay in the top division ended with an emphatic nine-wicket defeat to champions Fairburn after they were skittled out for 67.

Oulton must wait another week to find out if they are Division Two champions with rivals Kippax set to play their final two fixtures knowing they have to win both to overhaul the long-time leaders.

While there are a number of games still outstanding, Oulton have finished their campaign and they ended it on a high note with an 84-run win over neighbours Rothwell.

With good batting efforts from Jack Andrews (56), Naveed Razzaque (38no), Josh Neal (30), Ryan Healey (28), Benjamin Child (24) and William Harrison (24), Oulton were able to post a 265-8 total then kept their opponents out for 181-4.

Third-placed Nostell St Oswald defeated Glasshoughton by five wickets after bowling them out for 167.

Aakash Dutta (5-20) and Usman Bashir (3-48) led the Nostell attack before Tanvir Bashir (55) and Lincoln Steele (35) led the winning reply.

A quick return game between the two sides a day later brought a similar contest with Glasshoughton being bowled out for 162 and Nostell knocking off the runs, this time for the loss of three wickets.

Tanvir Bashir (4-36) and Dutta (4-29) did much of the damage with the ball while Tokir Bashir (57) top scored.

Denby Grange had a mixed weekend in Division Four, losing by nine wickets to Hatfield Town seconds before bouncing back to beat Fairburn seconds by eight wickets.

In the first of the games, Grange were shot out for 94 despite 50 off 37 balls from James White.

A much better batting display saw them make 191-2 to overhaul Fairburn's 185-7. Skipper White top scored with 63 while Scott Walker contributed 58no, Nick Finnigan 39no and Joseph Williamson 20.

Despite losing their last game of the season, Crigglestone have earned promotion from Division Six.

Although they were restricted to 159-9 to lose by two wickets to Kippax seconds, Crig were relieved to hear that rivals Whitley Bridge had also been beaten, the upshot being that they have finished in second placed behind undefeated champions Oulton seconds.

James Speight hit 71 and Peter Towers 57, but none of the other Crig batsmen could make much of an impact. Kabir Bisht (4-50) and Lee Speight (3-34) bowled well before Kippax edged past their target.