GARGRAVE have made a positive start in their bid to retain their Timothy Taylor’s Craven League Division One title.
They were at home to Bradley and were indebted to opener Lee Barrett after being sent in.
He batted through the innings, finishing on 117 not out, which contained 17 fours.
The next highest scorer was John Beckwith with 22 in the middle order as Zain Naeem (3-46) kept the batters honest.
Bradley never looked like chasing down that target, with only three players reaching double figures as they were dismissed for 53 inside 17 overs, Joe Wood (5-22) and Tom Storr (5-29) sharing the wickets.
There was no good news elsewhere for Craven area sides in the top flight, with Glusburn making the best fist of it at home to Riddlesden.
The top four all broke 20, with openers Matt Lloyd (32) and Dipesh Mistry (28) being followed by keeper Brad Juliff (21) and new signing Chris Longley (45).
However, it needed a quickfire 50 not out from No 9 Danny Ridehalgh, who added 55 with Longley for the eighth wicket, to get Glusburn up to 184.
Riddlesden, who were gifted five penalty runs for the application of saliva to the ball, won by three wickets in the 39th over, despite Longley taking 3-42 in a fine debut.
There was a low-scoring affair at Grange Road, where visitors Cowling were rumbled for 83 after winning the toss at home to Eldwick & Gilstead.
Again only three players reached double figures, headed by 21 from overseas Levi Falvey, but the twin villages didn’t find it easy in reply, winning by four wickets in the 26th over as Junaid Gulnawaz took 3-24.
Silsden at least made three figures after choosing to bat at Scotchman Road, but their 127 was insufficient, despite 44 from Mohsan Gulbhar and 29 from Ahsan Rizwan.
Bolwing Baptists, promoted alongside Silsden last season, then won by eight wickets in the 24th over.
Thornton-in-Craven are off the mark in Division Two, chiefly thanks to Tom Cleaver at Cowling Seconds.
He came to the wicket at 30-2 and proceeded to make an unbeaten 105 off 113 deliveries, including 19 fours, with the innings closing at 211-6.
Even so it was in peril at 66-6 before Cleaver and Jordan Howarth-Hynes (37) added 131 for the seventh wicket after Irfan Ishaq (4-45) had triggered the collapse.
Cowling II were always behind the eight ball in their reply and were dismissed for 141, boosted by 26 from Junaid Majid at No 10 as Mark (4-27) and Jack Laycock (4-40) proved a potent combination.
Silsden II had a heartening win at home to relegated Wilsden, who travelled in opposite directions last season, dismissing them for 111 as Ben Sugden took 5-36 and Elliott Howarth 3-18.
Sugden then scored 29 not out and skipper James Nelson 32 not out in an unbroken stand of 47 as Silsden won by seven wickets in the 25th over.
Sutton were involved in a high-scoring match at Haworth, who made 258-5 after winning the toss, Josh Gill doing well to take 3-57.
The visitors were in bother at 76-5 only for stands of 39, 78 and 26 to revive them before they ran out of time at 219-9.
Oliver Gledhill ignored the early carnage to make 33 but the real impetus came from Sam Solley, batting down the order at 6, who scored 67 off 58 balls, including five fours and four sixes.
He found good partners in Rob Tedder (14), Gill (30) and Sam Smith (23).
Skipton CI used seven bowlers at Long Lee, six of them taking wickets as the Keighley hosts made 205.
In reply, Edward Sebastian and Jibin Jacob both scored 28 and Muhammad Zeeshan 72 from 48 balls, which contained five fours and seven sixes, but they were only three to make double figures in a total of 153.
Gargrave II, fourth last season in Division Three, made a good start at Matthew Lane, dismissing Division Four champions Bradley II for 95 after putting them in.
Captain Luke Watson scored 25 of those, but watched Kieran Ashley take 6-32.
Ben Wood then scored 39 not out and Neil Fraser-Dibb 25 in a solid reply, Gargrave winning by seven wickets in the 26th over.
Runs on the board were also an issue for Sutton II, Cononley and Skipton CI II, all of whom failed to make 100.
Sutton came closest with 96 after winning the toss, opener Craig Thornton bagging half of those at home to Bowling Baptist II, Jack Middleton (16) helping him in a first-wicket partnership of 43.
Promoted Baptists won by eight wickets after 21 overs.
Cononley only had Ihsanullah Daulatzia (19) and Anthony Appleyard (11) in double figures as they were toppled for 73 at home to Menston IV, who won by six wickets by the end of the 25th over.
Bradford & Bingley III made 153 after winning the toss at CI II, John Stuttard taking 5-34 and Danyal Iqbal 3-19.
CI were then rolled over for 53 inside 22 overs, with only Steve Davidson (14no) and No 11 Sefal Allam (12) troubling the scorers to any degree.
The most dramatic match of the day was at Sandy Lane, where newcomers Bowling Baptists III and Glusburn II tied in Division Four.
The visitors had an opening stand of 41 after being sent in, openers Javed Akram (10) and Rafaqat Hussain (11) being the only players to reach double figures in a total that was boosted by 31 extras, 28 of them being byes.
There were 20 extras in the Baptists innings, and they also finished on 73, with the last pair adding eight as new boy Gulistan Khan took 3-8 and old boy Alan Coney 4-6.
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