East Bierley, Batley and Cleckheaton face fight for Premier Division survival

East Bierley are ninth in the table but just 13 points above the relegation zone after a four-wicket defeat at the hands of fourth-placed Townville.

Bierley were bowled out for 165 as eight of their batsmen reached double figures but were unable to go on and make a telling contribution and their joint top scorers were Shaaiq Choudhary and extras both with 24.

Opening bowler Connor Harvey (4-70) and spinner Jack Hughes (4-33) did much of the damage for Townville.

Harvey followed up his efforts with the bat by top scoring with 52 and Hughes chipped in with 34 as Townville eased to victory despite Umar Yaqoob taking 3-32 for Bierley.

Batley’s bid to avoid relegation suffered a big blow as they were bowled out for just 60 as they went down to an eight-wicket defeat at the hands of Bradford & Bingley.

Batley are 11 points behind Cleckheaton and 13 off East Bierley and face a key game at home to Lightcliffe on Saturday before facing New Farnley and Woodlands in their final two matches.

Bingley pacemen Jack Hartley (6-35) and Yassir Abbas (3-25) impressed as the Batley batting crumbled and the hosts eased to victory in 10.2 overs, losing two wickets on the way.

Cleckheaton were grateful to the six bonus points they picked up against Pudsey St Lawrence for stretching their advantage over second-bottom Batley, despite slipping to a 55-run defeat.

Wicketkeeper Charlie Best hit his first century for St Lawrence as his 101 included a six and 15 fours.

Best was joined in a second-wicket stand of 155 by Adam Waite (63).

Chris Marsden struck 63 not out from 34 balls with five sixes and three fours, as St Lawrence posted 259-5.

Cleckheaton recovered from losing early wickets to make 204 in reply with Mally Nicholson (68) and Andy Gorrod (35) leading the way.

Marsden capped a fine display by taking 4-50 while Charlie Parker took 3-39.