LAST season’s All Rounder Cricket Bradford League Conference Division champions East Ardsley are making the early running in Championship Division Two after defeating Hopton Mills by 65 runs to record their second win.

Spinner Mark Heald was in devastating form, taking 7-23 as Hopton Mills were bowled out for 166 in reply to East Ardsley’s 231, with only Mark Ashton (44) making an impression.

New signing James Marston continued his good form with the top score of 62 for East Ardsley, with Haseen Bashir (43), Jake Alleston (42) and Ashley Pearson (34) all keeping the scoreboard ticking over.

Opening bowlers Umar Abbas (4-49) and Michael Carroll (4-52) shared the bowling honours for Hopton Mills.

Keighley and Buttershaw St Paul’s are just a point behind East Ardsley.

Keighley beat Brighouse by 97 runs and were indebted to tail-enders Nathan Storton (42) and Abe Kenny (32no) for reviving their innings after they slumped to 150-8.

The ninth-wicket pair added 69 and helped their side to 220-9 as only Louis Horsfield (40) of the earlier batsmen made an impression.

Quadratullah Azizi (3-46) and Sohail Hussain (3-17) were the pick of the Brighouse bowlers, while Qaisar Hameed top scored with 41 in their disappointing reply of 123.

Paul Quinlan was Keighley’s best bowler with 5-44.

Buttershaw St Paul’s had a four-run win over Spen Victoria.

Former Spen player Ben Platt played a big part in the defeat of his old club, top scoring with 40 in the modest St Paul’s total of 148 and following up by taking 3-35 as Spen were dismissed for 144.

Amer Ayoub was the best of the bowlers with 5-31 as former St Paul’s player Tosh Baker top-scored with 50 for Spen but lacked support.

Alex Mumford’s 5-31 helped Wakefield St Michael’s to bowl out Birstall for 122 and secure a 76-run win, despite opener Matt Dyson carrying his bat for an unbeaten 71.

Ayaz Seedat (71) and James Cooper (61) hit half-centuries in St Michael’s 198 as Josh Haynes (4-44) and Charlie Orme (4-50) shared the bowling honours.

Overseas player Saideep Yarapureddy top-scored with 79 as Bowling Old Lane made 220 on their way to an 86-run win over Carlton.

Abid Alishan (39) provided the main support as opening bowler Liam Morris took 5-66.

Carlton struggled against the pace bowling of Zeeshan Haider (6-39) and were dismissed for 134.

Hard-hitting Will Atkin hit five sixes and four fours in his unbeaten 73, which was the key to Liversedge’s 30-run win over Northowram Fields.

Atkin's runs boosted Liversedge’s total to 215-9, which was far better than seemed likely when Ashton Richardson (4-32) and Jason Smith (3-57) posed problems for the early order.

Ajantha Weerappuli (41), John Lister (36) and Dru Patel (30) made useful contributions but nobody was able to go on and make a telling contribution as Northowram Fields were all out for 185.

Experienced spinner Steve Lane took 3-58.