EMBSAY have given themselves more breathing space at the wrong end of the Mewies Solicitors Craven League First Division by romping to victory at home to Haworth.

Duncan Ward (83no) and Phil Binner (74no) put on 105 unbroken for the fourth wicket in their 258-3 after openers Morgan Davies (38) and Josh Robinson (37) had laid the foundations.

Haworth were then restricted to 187-9 but didn't seem like getting anywhere near that total until the Rowell brothers made hay, Binner taking 3-46 and Robinson 3-53.

Embsay are now six points ahead of Sutton and Chatburn, the latter in the highest of the two relegation berths.

Justin Holdsworth took 5-44 as Chatburn were dismissed for 149 but Sutton only had three men in double figures as they replied with 87.

If ever Gargrave realised that the runes are aligned against them, it came at Second Division leaders Oakworth.

Gargrave made 241-5, opener Jonah Smith carrying his bat for 95 and John Beckwith making 62 and Chris Lambert 38, the latter adding 80 for the first wicket with Smith, while Beckwith put on 96 with the latter.

Oakworth then won by two wickets with four balls to spare, despite Harry McEneaney taking 3-55.

Third-from-bottom Bradley are not out of the woods after their 12-run defeat at home to Hepworth & Idle, who thus sent Gargrave to the bottom.

The Bradford club made runs at the top and bottom of their oder in compiling 181 as Vincent Grant took 4-57 and Caspar Bean 3-37 but Bradley fell just short on 169-9, despite the efforts of opener James Heseltine (72).

Meanwhile, Glusburn maintained their promotion push with an easy five-wicket victory at home to Wilsden.

Nick Williamson took 3-55 in Wilsden's 207-9 and that target was passed in just 37.4 overs as James Tillotson made 53, skipper Steve Brown 42 and wicket-keeper Neil Freeman 36.

Shahid Hassan (5-8) and Banaras Hussain (4-22) ran through the Thornton-in-Craven batting to dismiss them for 80, and fellow promotion contenders Cowling won by six wickets , with Hassan making 34 and Ajmal Choudhry 31 not out as Danny Taylor took 3-21.

Skipton CI have climbed to third in the Third Division thanks to a potent bowling attack of Alex Horsfield (5-25), Sam Smith (3-44) and John Stuttard (15-6-29-2).

Denholme were thus dismissed for 118, which was 67 shy of the churchmen's 185-6, with most of the home batsmen getting starts.

Cononley made a great start in response to Ingrow St John's' formidable 276-9, with openers Herbie Starkey scoring 55 and Charles Calvert 52 but only two other players reached double figures as they were bowled out for 191 in the 39th over.

Alan Pickles (74) and Sam Arkwright (30) added 60 for Embsay's third wicket but they lacked support as they were dismissed for 152 in response to hosts Sandy Lane's 223-8, Simon Holt taking 4-63 for the losers.

Thornton-in-Craven can't quite catch up with the leading three in the Fourth Division, and their penultimate ball defeat at home to Oakworth Thirds didn't help on a day when two of the top three lost.

Maurice Oldfield made an unbeaten 51, his son, opener and skipper Dan, 49, Nick Paxton 37 and Nick Bowker 31 as the border club rattled up 236-6 but Oakworth replied with 237-7 as Maurice's brother Phil took 3-46 off 11.5 overs.

Glusburn did their survival hopes the world of good, however, with a 63-run victory over next-to-bottom Wilsden, who were dismissed for 99 thanks to Bryan Hollis (4-24), Dominic Mortimer (2-25) and Richard Smith (2-26).

Cowling still lead the way in the Fifth Division, and Sajid Shafait was their man of the match with 4-44 and 104 not out as next-to-bottom Cononley were beaten by seven wickets.

Tom Broadbent's 74 not out was the cornerstone of Cononley's 174-7, Zahid Shafait taking 3-55, but Cowling won by the end of the 36th over.

Carl Jopson (5-29) and Tony Walton (3-47) hustled out third-placed Sandy Lane for 122, and second-placed Sutton won by four wickets as Andrew Kay made 55.

Bradley wasted no time in defeating Ingrow, Andy Holmes (6-27) and Tim Rudden (4-41) taking all the wickets as the hosts were shot out for 76, Dan Horne's brisk 42 not out speeding Bradley to an eight-wicket victory on just 15.2 overs.

Ten-man Skipton CI dropped to sixth on the back of a 152-run defeat to Long Lee, despite the efforts of Chris Windle (5-46) and Simon Bates (51).