THE pre-match plea of Booth skipper Richard Laycock to his players to be up for it fell on deaf ears as they lost to champions Sowerby Bridge in the Spenser Wilson Halifax League Premier Division.

Jake Dixon got his year off to a fine start with 7-18 as Booth were skittled for 101 after Sowerby Bridge had scored 163.

Thornton sealed a seven-run win over Triangle. Nikki Hutchinson proved the difference between the two teams as he scored 111 not out. In reply, Carl Fletcher's 77 was not enough to force a win.

Copley (162-3) enjoyed a seven-wicket victory over Oxenhope (161).

Illingworth St Mary’s, featuring in the top flight for the first time in 100 years, hit the ground running with a superb nine-wicket win against Shelf Northowram HT.

Callum Cook (74no) and Liam Kelly (53no) shared an unbroken second-wicket partnership of 148.

Mytholmroyd also started well with a home victory over SBCI by 38 runs.

Taufeeq Ahmed first hit 55 and then took 6-46. SBCI’s only real resistance came from Thomas Wood (81) and Adam Fawcett (47).

Sowerby St Peter’s (149) also fell 10 runs short of a winning target at home to Warley. Warley posted 159.

In the Second Division, returning Augustinians made the long trip to Hebden Bridge.

The hosts rattled up 313-7 as Mudassar Iqbal set the pace with 130no. The visitors faired even worse with the bat, capitulating to 92 all out.

There was a low scoring affair at Leymoor as Stones won by two wickets.

The hosts batted first and mustered only 102 as Dylan Conroy took 4-18. Stones struggled but three batsmen managed 20 plus runs to grind out victory.

There was another tight finish at Greetland where visitors Luddendenfoot won by just one wicket.

The hosts only set a small target of 134 to win as number seven batsman Mohammed Yousaf (42), coming in at 22-5, was the batsman to cope with the bowling to any degree.

Skipper Daniel Barron came to the rescue with 60no to see his team home, as Greetland must have scented a false dawn victory when the score stood at 31-6.

Batting first, Outlane relied on Chris Brook (42) and Lee Mellor (41) for the majority of its 163-run total. Following a 51-run opening partnership for Queensbury, wickets began to fall at regular intervals until they were skittled for 147.

There were over 400 runs scored at Cullingworth and the home team must have been disappointed to lose by one wicket to Low Moor.

Chris Welch's 73 was the major contribution in Cullingworth's 212-9.

In reply, none of the Low Moor batsmen managed to score 40 but six double figure contributions helped to boost a winning total of 215-9.