BANKFOOT strengthened their hold on top spot in Championship One after a topsy-turvy day which saw five of the top seven lose while four of the bottom five recorded wins.

The leaders were again indebted to their experienced bowlers James Lee (4-26) and Andrew Stothart (4-32) as Keighley were restricted to 121-9 when they batted first.

Skipper Paul Quinlan (48no) was the only batsman to challenge the dominance of the bowlers. Hamzah Khan made 38 as Bankfoot bagged another victory.

They now have 149 points and are seven ahead of Batley who leap-frogged Morley into second place after beating them by 122 runs.

An opening stand of 122 between Owais Hussain (62) and Roheil Hussain (55) helped propel Batley to a score of 233-8. Kasir Maroof (35) also added useful runs as spinners Dave Nebard (3-48) and Akash Senerathna (3-39) proved to be Morley’s best bowlers.

Morley’s batting crumbled against Mohammad Shahnawaz (5-34) and Mohammed Bhoola (4-19) as they were dismissed for 111.

East Bierley, Baildon and Hartshead Moor were the other sides in the top half to suffer defeats at the hands of teams at the other end of the table.

Gomersal’s left-arm spinner Chris Rhodes produced a devastating spell of 8-28 as his side bowled out East Bierley for 119 to secure a 28-run win.

Securing a victory seemed a long shot when Gomersal were reduced to 39-6, but Lewis Edmond (44) led the recover in successive half-century stands with Liam Thomas (37) and Joel Pollard (20) which enabled his side to make 147. Umar Farroq impressed for east Bierley with 6-33.

Ossett boosted their hopes of avoiding relegation with a five-wicket win over a Baildon side that has faltered in recent weeks.

Mushy Rafique (4-28) and Matt Varley (4-27) joined forces as Baildon crumbled to 104 all out. Overseas player Isiah Lange hit an unbeaten 56 as Ossett reached their victory target. Left-arm spinner Mushtaq Ahmed took 3-34 for Baildon.

An unbeaten 87 from Pudsey Congs’ teenage batsman Vikram Sharm and a return of 5-43 from opening bowler Chris Doey, were the key ingredients to their five-run win over Hartshead Moor.

Sharma ensured that Congs posted a challenging score of 183-8 despite the efforts of spinner Mohammad Khan (6-44).

It was Khan (62) who threatened to take Hartshead moor to victory, but Congs stuck to their task and claimed 18 valuable points.

Wakefield St Michael’s scored a crushing 167-run win over Scholes in the battle of the bottom two. Imran Mahboob continued the fine form he showed in last Sunday’s T20 Finals Day with 73 while Zaeem Zulfqar weighed in with 57 in a total of 241-7.

Scholes struggled in reply and were all out for just 74 as Mahboob picked up 3-17 and Juned Delair (3-13).