Gildersome had flown the flag for Division Two well in earning a home semi-final against Stanley and they came mighty close to pulling off another shock at Street Lane.

The visitors, with several ex-Gildersome players in their ranks, went in first and were indebted to an extraordinary knock from opener Rahul Bakshi who blasted his way to 130 not out in a tie reduced to 30 overs a side.

The fact that the rest of the Stanley batsmen and the extras total combined could only muster 61 further runs showed the extent to which Bakshi dominated, although his innings was also controversial as Gildersome players were convinced he should have been given out twice. The umpires thought differently, however, and the visitors totalled 191-7 with Simon Hampshaw (2-30) the pick of the home bowlers.

Gildersome's reply saw them lose two early wickets to run outs and their target of more than six runs an over looked to be too much for them when they slumped to 67-6.

But Shaun Horan, with 53, began the fight back and the cause was then taken on by Mel Wood (34) and Aidan McCormack (26) in a 58-run partnership of the young and the old that had Stanley worried.

However, both were out within a run of each other and Gildersome fell 11 runs short, finishing on 180-9.

Hunslet Nelson did not quite as close, but also put up a battling effort chasing a big target in their semi-final at Townville A.

With Andrew Ward hitting 74, Townville were able to pile up 221-6 from their 40 overs. Sohail Raz (2-51) was the most successful of Hunslet's six bowlers.

Nelson overcame the loss of two early wickets in their reply to look on course for a possible win when standing on 74-2 then 140-4 . But they lost their last six wickets for 32 runs to be 172 all out. Kashid Rashid top scored with 45 while Raz hit 35 and Jeff Nicholson 25.