Liversedge and Spen handed relegation reprieve after Brighouse irregularities

Liversedge, Spen Victoria, Hopton Mills and East Ardsley have been handed a relelgation reprieve.

The Bradford League management board have confirmed that only one side will be relegated from Championship Two this season.

Meetings with Brighouse have revealed irregularities in relation to the registration and transfer of players which have led to the club fielding ineligible overseas players.

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They have been deducted 90 points and as a further punishment will be relegated to the Conference at the end of this season.

It is a relief to Liversedge and Spen, who currently occupy the bottom two places.

On the field, there was a remarkable Championship Two game between Hopton Mills and Brighouse last Saturday which saw an amazing 630 runs scored.

Chris Scott and Umar Abbas hit centuries for Hopton and still ended up on the losing side.

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Abbas smashed eight sixes and 11 fours in his 120 while Scott’s 101 included a six and 14 fours.

Despite their efforts Hopton finished on 299-9 to lose by 32 runs after Quadratullah Azizi took 3-56 and Sohail Hussain (3-40) e for Brighouse.

Azizi had earlier smashed 76 from just 37 balls with eight sixes and four fours, while Hussain top scored with 79 and Arshad Mahmood made 66 in a total of 331.

Peter Gregersen produced a stunning all-round performance as Birstall defeated struggling East Ardsley by three wickets.

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Gregersen returned the stunning figures of 8-39 as East Ardsley were bowled out for 156 with Haseen Bashir making 43.

Gregersen top scored with 37 as Birstall weathered some good bowling from David Battye (3-47) and Louie Hurley (3-51) to secure victory.

Wakefield St Michael’s maintained their hold on second position with a 45-run win over Spen Victoria.

James Cooper (81), Mark Atkinson (54), Charity Cooray (53) and Alex Leyshon (41) helped St Michael’s to 280-7.

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Spen made a spirited reply with captain George Deegan scoring 74no and Adam Brown (50), but they were eventually dismissed for 235.

Paul Quinlan took his season’s haul of wickets to 54 as Championship Two leaders Keighley defeated bottom team Liversedge by 42 runs.

Quinlan took 6-69 as Liversedge were dismissed for 194 in reply to Keighley’s total of 236-7, a score which owed much to an opening stand of 135 between Luke Chapman (69) and Richard Gould (61).

Ahmed Khan took 4-49 for Liversedge while captain Graham Winn (36), Will Atkins (33) and Alan Sumner (32no) all made useful contributions for Liversedge.

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Northowram Fields looked to be in danger of defeat when they slipped to 67-5 in reply to Carlton’s 198, but a sixth wicket stand of 108 between Louis Cockburn (64) and former Dewsbury Rams rugby league coach Glenn Morrison (44) turned things around and enabled their side to secure a three-wicket win.

Will Parkin (4-47) and Nick Busby (4-55) impressed for Carlton whose total of 198 featured a top score of 75 from Scott Douglas.