Hall Bower must rally themselves tomorrow for one last effort to stay in the Drakes Premiership – and then hope Holmfirth lose!

The Castle Hill side have endured an awful second half to the top-flight campaign, picking up just six points from 13 matches (and four of those have been from two rained-off games!) since their last victory against Scholes on June 29.

Coincidentally, Wayne Swift’s side play Scholes at Chapelgate tomorrow – 1000-run Joe Carter is looking for his eighth straight Scholes half century and third successive ton – knowing only a win will give them a chance of avoiding the drop alongside Marsden.

Hall Bower’s cause has not been helped in the last six weeks by the return to Australia of left-arm spinner Michael Salerno, who had 38 wickets under his belt at that time but wanted to finish the season early to attend his brother’s wedding in Queensland.

It’s left Swift without a vital bowling option and, while Yogesh Golwalkar has had a fine campaign at the head of the attack with his leg-spin, taking 64 wickets at 19 apiece, they’ve rarely had the runs to work with.

Skipper Swift, Javaid Ahmed and Hasnat Yousaf are all over 400 runs for the season, but they have generally been shackled since a highly-encouraging first half of the summer and it’s resulted in nine blank returns from the last 13 outings.

In that same spell, Holmfirth have collected 31 points and, from looking in a hopeless position at one point, now hold a two-point lead over the Bower.

The go into tomorrow’s home clash with Barkisland knowing a five-point haul will guarantee them safety.

Holmfirth beat Hall Bower last weekend thanks to a seven-wicket haul from Adbul Ghafoor, who now has 37 for the season, and they’ll be looking to back that up against Barkisland, who are safe.

SP Singh could well hold the key to victory, as he has 734 runs this term to add to his 43 wickets, although Shabir Rashid has outscored any single Hall Bower batsman with 499 runs to his name at Bridge Fold.

Quick-scoring Aussie keeper Chris Morton is also within striking distance of 500 runs, so Holmfirth will be keen to eke out one more solid performance to finish the season with three successive victories.

While there’s plenty to play for at the bottom of the top flight, it’s equally tense in the battle for promotion from the Frank Platt Championship alongside champions Slaithwaite, who will receive their trophy tomorrow at 12.15pm.

Meltham and Broad Oak are tied on 71 points and have the chance to catch second-placed Thongsbridge, who are just four points ahead on 75.

Thongsbridge know a win at Linthwaite will see them back in the Premiership, but if they slip up then one of the others could pounce.

Meltham are on home soil against Oddfellows Cup winners Cawthorne while Broad Oak must beat Slaithwaite at Hill Top to stand any chance of grabbing the final promotion slot.

Three wickets in the final session checked Yorkshire’s progress as they tried to close the gap on leaders Durham at the top of LV= County Championship Division One.

Sussex seamer James Anyon struck twice and there was a maiden first-class wicket for left-arm spinner Ashar Zaidi as second-placed Yorkshire ended the second day on 246 for four, still trailing by 46.

They looked to be on their way to building a substantial lead when Adam Lyth and Kane Williamson were adding 164 for the second wicket after the early loss of Phil Jacques as Yorkshire replied to Sussex’s 292.