Van Der Merwe’s effort proves in vain as Carlton lose out to champions

Defeats in their first three matches have left the team in the bottom three at this early stage and in need of a boost.

Their latest defeat was not really a surprise as they were up against reigning champions New Farnley who were desperate to bounce back after seeing a long unbeaten league run ended the week before.

Farnley delivered the most dominant batting performance of the round, posting a formidable 317-8 total before dismissing Carlton for 170.

James Van Der Merwe hit eight fours and two sixes as he top scored with 77, but support proved hard to find with only Dan Ford (27) and Farukh Alam (18) joining him in reaching double figures.

Alam had taken three wickets in Farnley’s innings while Kevin McDermott claimed 5-77.

Early Division One pacesetters Sandal delivered a dominant all-round performances as they beat East Bierley by 125 runs to make it three wins from three fixtures so far.

After electing to bat first consistent efforts from all the batters who got in helped Sandal to post a strong 299-4 total from their 50 overs.

Leighton Shuttleworth cracked 13 boundaries and top scored with 66, while Sasindu Malshan (62) hit seven fours plus a six and Sohail Hussain’s 58 contained eight fours and two sixes.

There were also handy efforts from opener Sam Owen (39), Umar Abbas (29no) and Denson Narayan (15no).

Abbas followed up with an outstanding spell of bowling as he took 7-53 wickets to seal victory as Bierley were dismissed for 174.

One of the most remarkable individual performances of the round came at Ossett, where the hosts posted a commanding 321-3 before dismissing Crossflatts for 240.

The Ossett innings was dominated by an extraordinary knock by Saminda Ganwarige, who hit an unbeaten 170 from 110 balls, smashing seven sixes and 21 fours.

He was supported by Iqbal Khan (57no) in a an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 162. Haseen Bashir also weighed in with 37.

Crossflatts were all out 81 runs short as Callum Geldart (5-75) did most to restrict them.

Altofts were edged out by Keighley in a thrilling high scoring Division Two contest.

They had posted a challenging target in making 278-5 as Andrew Wood (77), Saif Tahir (71) and Dean Van Onselen (60) all batted well.

But Keighley paced their run chase well to get home with four wickets to spare.

Streethouse suffered their first defeat since promotion to Division Two as they came up against Hartshead Moor.

After putting their opponents in they did well enough in dismissing them for 189 with Michael Bates taking 3-47 and two wickets each for Ismail Patel and Gabe Lawson.

But Streethouse fell 31 runs short in their reply when all out for 158 despite a battling knock of 73 from Lawson who hit eight fours and a six.

Wakefield St Michael’s produced one of the most dominant displays of the day, posting 276-6 before dismissing Liversedge for 108 in Division Three.

The innings was built around Mohammad Hamid (89) and Nazakat Hussain (49), while Rana Khan (4-26) led the bowling effort.

East Ardsley were dismissed for 89 as they lost by eight wickets to Hopton Mills. Oliver Appleyard (22) top scored.