BIRSTALL put themselves in the hat for Thursday's quarter-final draw when they cruised to a nine-wicket success against Northowram Fields in the Jack Hampshire Trophy on Sunday.
Batsmen Connor Williams and Vikram Rathour carried on where they left off in the CYL a day earlier as they blasted the Northowram bowling to all parts of the Leeds Road ground.
Rathour’s incredible start to the new season continued as he hit an un
beaten 67 while Williams was not out again, this time making 66. Having been set 148 for victory, Birstall were home for the loss of only one wicket, the winning runs coming as early as the 22nd over.
Northowram Fields were kept to 147-9 from the allotted 40 overs with Danny Busfield the leading wicket taker with 4-23 and Paul Blakeley the most accurate with 1-6 from his eight overs. There was also one wicket each for John Carruthers, Paul Marlow and Sam Newman.
GILDERSOME advanced to the last eight in the Barry Winstanley Trophy as they piled up a big score against ADWALTON.
Going in first, the Street Lane side scored 254 in their 40 overs with half centuries from Paul Pearson, Sohail Ibrahim and Steve Wales. A determined reply was made by Division Three side Adwalton, but they fell 89 runs short as they were all out for 165.
EAST ARDSLEY are one of the favourites to lift the trophy, especially after the way they beat another of the strong sides in the competition, Moorlands, on Sunday.
A tough tie was expected, but Ardsley emerged victorious by 91 runs after batting first and posting a big target in making 226 from 39.2 overs. Captain Danny McTernan top scored with 42 while Tom Chester hit 39, Duncan Arnolda 38 and Rob Hoban 34. Moorlands were in the hunt when opener Greg Sheehan was at the crease, but after he fell for 58, caught by Arnolda off Alistair Cooper, their innings fell away. They were all out for 135 with Cooper finishing with 3-30, Ashley Pearson 2-20, Chester 2-29, Arnolda 1-11 and Christian Musgrave 1-14.
HUNSLET NELSON marched confidently into the quarter-finals after a century from the in-form Kashif Rashid paved the way for a 151-run win over Liversedge A.
With Rashid hitting a brilliant 118 and good support coming from Matt Smith (56) and Joe Smith (27 not out), Nelson reached 243-8 from their 40 overs. Liversedge never looked like getting close to the target set and were all out for 92 as Sohail Raz claimed 4-17 and there were two wickets each for Derrick Hammill and Chris Allan.
WOODKIRK are also looking forward to this week’s draw after reaching the last eight with a six-wicket success against Wakefield St Michael’s A.
The Wakefield side went in first and were dismissed for 125 as Garry Dawber took 3-14 and Chris McGuire 2-24.
Woodkirk were then always cruising in their reply as they reached the target in the 28th over for the loss of four wickets.
The full article contains 526 words and appears in Morley Advertiser newspaper.
