Wakefield Thornes bounce back to win thrilling run chase against Elsecar

The first of the games saw a 68-run defeat against Appleby Frodingham as they were unable to chase down a revised DLS target of 154 from 34 overs.

Thornes hit trouble from the outset of their innings as they were reduced to 22-4 then 32-7.

Jawad Akhtar battled to make an unbeaten 28 and further resistance came from Joshua Hen-Boisen (15no), but they finished on 85-8.

Appleby had batted their full 50 overs and were all out for 167 with Imran Mahboob (6-31) doing the bulk of the damage along with Matty Taylor and Junaid Yousaf who took two wickets each.

Onto Monday’s match Thornes were much more impressive with the bat as they chased down Elsecar’s 266-8 to win with five wickets and five balls to spare.

Joe Billings (79) and Dylan Hurst (72) led the way, combining for a 133-run stand for the third wicket with Billings hitting nine boundaries and Hurst five sixes and four fours.

Openers Kieran Donnachie (22) and James Rhodes (28) gave the team a solid start and Imran Mahboob (33no) and Jawad Akhtar (19no) finished the job.

Akhtar had earlier done most to restrict Elsecar’s innings as he claimed 3-62.

The results left Thornes in fifth place with one game remaining.

Thornes’ seconds went down by 45 runs to Rotherham Town firsts as they were all out for 208 in reply to 253-9.

George Harrison (73) and Nick England (41) top scored after Adam Naz took 5-53.