EARLY-afternoon scattered showers, some of which were heavy, affected matches in certain parts of the ENCO Halifax League, delaying starts, while others escaped completely on Saturday.

At Shelf Northowram Hedge Top, visitors Oxenhope were asked to bat and scored 148.

Opener Will Rankin (50) was one of six batters who were part of a mid-innings collapse from 95-2 to 104-8, and the tail then needed to wag as Harry Talbot (5-19) was among the wickets again.

SNHT then never looked like reaching their target, particularly as they too lost wickets in mid-innings from 42-3 to 47-6 and were eventually bowled out for 95 as Daniel Scott took 4-48.

Bradshaw’s Si Collins (6-51) caused plenty problems for leaders Thornton as they made the short trip to Hill Top Road.

Only Jordan Croft (61) looked comfortable against him as, fresh from his Parish Cup final exploits, he again top-scored in a total of 198-9 from a reduced 40 overs.

In response, none of the Bradshaw batters could reach 40 and, with Greg Soames taking 5-55, the innings closed on 148.

Thornton are now odds-on favourites to retain the title as their lead at the top has been stretched to 26 points.

There was nearly a shock in the First Division where next-to-bottom Greetland, at second-placed Great Horton Park Chapel, inserted the hosts and had them back into the pavilion for a mere 118.

Horton skipper and opening bat Adam Beesley (46no) looked on aghast as he witnessed ten wickets fall at the other end as four bowlers shared the spoils, led by Shakeel Mahmood (4-11).

Greetland openers Zafar Khan (32) and skipper Muhammad Asif (24) set up the reply with an 43-run stand, but the innings collapsed to 66-6 and, despite the tail wagging a little, they closed 16 runs short at 103.

Fahad Shabbir was Horton’s match saver with career-best figures of 10-4-13-7.

In contrast came the effort of leaders Upper Hopton as they won by ten wickets at home to Low Moor Holy Trinity.

The visitors opted to bat, and that turned out not to be a bad decision as they were rolled over for 126 in the 36th over, Charlie Gallagher taking 4-43.

The match was over some 24 overs later as Thomas Wightman (60no) and Harry Scott (54no) excelled as five Trinity bowlers had no success.

Clayton’s Ian Nicholson (48), Michael Nicholson (44) and Scott Etherington (40) led the scoring at Blackley, where all seven batters called upon hit scores of 20 or over in a challenging total of 227-6, with Ian Nicholson caught off the last ball of the innings aiming for his half-century.

Only Michael Midwood (58) looked comfortable in the Blackley reply as he hit ten fours, but no other batter could stay long enough and the innings closed at 193, Will Garside taking 4-56.

There was a tight finish at Oakworth in their top-of-the-table Second Division clash with leaders Sowerby St Peter’s, who opted to bat.

The hosts had captured the first four wickets by the 13th over for only 37, helped by a run out off the fourth ball of the innings.

The middle order rallied but no batter could muster a score of over 31 and the innings closed on an inviting target of 162.

At 19-4 in reply, that score looked distant but Jack Davison came to the rescue with 71 not out.

Even then the loss of three wickets at 111, making them seven down, had more than the superstitious concerned.

However, with more than a little help from No 11 Brannan Lawn (38no), the winning runs came with 14 balls to spare at 163-9 as Oakworth moved to within 10 points of St Peter’s at the top.

At Cullingworth, in a match reduced to 38 overs per side, the home team posted 200-9 from their allocation against Queensbury.

Seven batters contributed double-figure scores, with both Steve Welch and Graham Rankin hitting 39, the latter being not out as Khalid Mahmood took 4-65.

The visitors were soon in trouble at 43-6, and at that stage the shutters came down as the target became unreachable.

The hosts were denied maximum points as James Myers (25 not out from 67 balls) and an unfamiliar No 11, Phil Sharples (0 not out from 11 balls), thwarted the bowlers as they closed on 103-9.

Mount enjoyed a five-wicket win at Bradley & Colnebridge, bowling out the hosts for 126 as Waqas Razzaq (45no) was the only batter to provide any real problem for the visiting attack, with skipper Ismail Mayat taking 5-47.

Mount were home and dry in the 32nd over with a score of 127-5.