Theakston Nidderdale League: Blubberhouses CC sink another top flight title hopeful

Bash Khan’s team beat West Tanfield last time out, leaving Killinghall as the only side with a realistic chance of reeling in the league leaders, but they too were undone on Saturday afternoon.

Trailing Arthington by 33 points heading into the game, Killinghall knew that they had no margin for error, but looked on course to record their 13th win in 16 completed matches when they bowled Blubberhouses out for 160.

Luke Haidar was the pick of the away attack, claiming 3-39, while Aamir Rehman hit 47.

The visitors’ reply did not go well, however, with 10 of their 11 batsmen failing to even make double figures as they were knocked over for only 92.

Ahmad Hussain and Adil Shazad impressed with the ball for Blubberhouses, bagging three wickets apiece.

Meanwhile, Arthington just about made it 16 consecutive victories when they edged out relegation-threatened Pateley Bridge to open up a 48-point lead at the summit.

Captain Naveed Andrabi led by example once again, top-scoring with a knock of 71, while Umar Farooq added 44 as the high-flyers posted 227/5 in 45 overs.

Opener Louis Foxton then narrowly missed out on a century when the Badgers replied, though his innings of 98 alongside Eddie Batchelor (44) left them in a great position at 162/1.

Bridge would however go on to lose their next seven batsmen for just 23 runs, and were eventually dismissed on 214, just short of where they needed to be.

Elsewhere, third-placed West Tanfield lost for the second week in succession, going down by seven wickets at home to mid-table Birstwith.

Dominic Kelleher (53) was the only batsman to impress for the men from the Sleningford Oval as they were all out for 143.

Calum Halliday and Thomas Johnston took three scalps apiece for Birstwith, with Halliday then hitting 44 in an 87-run opening stand with Sam Ryan (51) that set the away team on their way to reaching 147/3 inside 26 overs.

Fourth-placed Upper Wharfedale continued their good run of recent form, seeing off Goldsborough in what was a high-scoring affair.

The Rams eased to 266/5 in just 38.3 overs to complete a five-wicket triumph, Jimmy McPhee (122) weighing in with another excellent knock in addition to Callum Lockett’s 37.

Earlier, Goldsborough had put 262/7 on the board thanks to contributions from Ethan Ive (50), Adam Voakes (48 not out), James Wood (48) and Graham Shorter (39).

At the other end of the table, the bottom two both lost.

Basement boys Masham now find themselves 22 points from safety following their 36-run reverse at home to Helperby.

The visitors were restricted to 127/9, Cheslin Batt (51) scoring a big chunk of those runs as Kyle Tomlinson scooped 3-44.

But Masham’s batsmen failed to fire and they were all out for 91 in reply, thanks largely to the efforts of Tom Wade (4-16) and Tom Messenger (4-37).

Second-from-bottom Ouseburn suffered a heavy defeat on the road at Alne.

The hosts made 195 all out batting first, Daniel Hunt hitting 65 as Will Jenkins (4-26) and Guy Jenkins (3-43) did their bit with the ball.

Ouseburn were then knocked over for just 94, Hunt completing a splendid afternoon’s work by snapping up 4-25.