Bamford in double title boost

BAMFORD Fieldhouse have slipped into top gear in their pursuit of a third Armstrongs Office Furniture Saddleworth and District Cricket League title in the space of four years.

Emphatic wins over Stayley and Saddleworth has lifted Andy Barton’s boys into second place.

Heyside still lead the way, but a four-run defeat at home to Austerlands yesterday has seen their advantage cut to 30 points.

The reigning champions, who have a game in hand over the table-toppers, sent Stayley crashing to 58 all out after posting 228 for six. West Indian overseas amateur Lincoln Roberts made 60.

Darren Shadford scored his first ton for Bamford — 106 not out — in their 108-run win over Saddleworth at Well-i-Hole. Shadford and Max Power (92 not out) put on 166 in the last 15 overs.

Power’s cameo came off only 50 balls — it took him 39 deliveries to reach his half-century — while Shadford faced 126 balls.

The weekend started well for Heyside, with an eight-wicket win over Hollinwood in which Little Hey Street professional Roelof Hugo (65 not out) brought up his 1,000 runs for the season.

But they then went down to Austerlands, who looked dead and buried after James Davies had batted brilliantly for 54.

Heyside needed nine off 12 balls, but they lost Davies and Tony Heaton to Donwell Hector (four for 57) in the penultimate over, before a run out and wicket for Dave Oldfield saw them slump to an agonising defeat.

Oldfield had earlier compiled 59 and Pubudu Seneviratne scored 60 in a total of 229.

The win and performance made up for Saturday’s shock nine-wicket defeat by Droylsden after Kevin Du Feu’s 10 men — Adam Lavin failed to show up — were bowled out for 109.

Austerlands are down one place to fourth, immediately below Uppermill, who overcame Moorside by five wickets but then lost to an Imran Aslam-inspired Glodwick. The Pakistani made 62 and took six for 45 in the 34-run win.

Other bowling highlights on a sun-kissed weekend were Peter Gill’s six for 81 and seven for 73 against Shaw and Stayley respectively — Greenfield won both games to go sixth in the table — a Lee Warburton hat-trick in Moorside’s 37-run win over Hollinwood and pro Ruwan Dissanayake’s six for 59 in Shaw’s defeat of Droylsden yesterday.

On the batting front, Rehan Rafiq’s 129 was to no avail for Stayley against Greenfield, but Zafar Iqbal’s 125 helped Friarmere to a 43-run success over Glodwick on Saturday.

Saturday, division one: Austerlands 109-9 (A Uppal 3-22, P Shah 3-35), Droylsden 112-1 (G Dent 43 not out, R Alam 40 not out); Bamford Fieldhouse 228-6 (L Roberts 60, P McKeown 44), Stayley 58 (N Gondal 4-43); Friarmere 235-9 (Z Iqbal 125, I Aslam 5-62), Glodwick 172-9 (N Stock 58 not out, P Jewitt 5-37); Greenfield 171-9 (C Gill 35, R Doherty 5-39), Shaw 159 (K Fullalove 51 not out, P Gill 6-81); Hollinwood 125, Heyside 126-2 (R Hugo 65 not out); Moorside 129 (F Sutherland 49), Uppermill 130-5 (Z Khan 56).

Division two: Droylsden 81 (R Garlick 5-14), Austerlands 82-3; Friarmere 126, Glodwick 129-8; Hollinwood 237-6 (F Ishaq 59), Heyside 147 (I Reddish 50); Uppermill 147 (I Johnson 79 not out), Moorside 145; Shaw 247-8 (J Crawley 83, C Thompson 55), Greenfield 239 (T Milnes 55, L Needham 91 not out); Stayley 101 (C Barrett 5-27), Bamford Fieldhouse 83 (A Camps 5-3).

Sunday, division one: Glodwick 157-9 (I Aslam 62, J Baron 5-51), Uppermill 123 (I Aslam 6-45); Austerlands 229 (P Seneviratne 60, D Oldfield 59), Heyside 225 (J Davies 54, R Hugo 41, D Hector 4-57); Moorside 166-9 (H Kingston 42), Hollinwood 129 (A Durose 5-43, L Warburton 5-58); Bamford Fieldhouse 294-3 (D Shadford 106 not out, M Power 92 not out); Droylsden 182-9 (P Shah 71, R Dissanayake 6-59), Shaw 183-4 (G Harrop 70 not out); Stayley 182 (R Rafiq 129, P Gill 7-73), Greenfield 184-2.

Division two: Austerlands v Heyside — no result; Bamford Fieldhouse v Saddleworth — no result; Droylsden 133, Shaw 134-1 (M Chadwick 64 not out); Stayley 101, Greenfield 104-8; Hollinwood 206 (F Ishaq 106), Moorside 73 (M Kamran 6-28); Uppermill v Glodwick — no result.