THINGS are on the up for a Skipton Cricket Club side that finished second bottom last season with only three wins to its name.

They have already notched a win and on Saturday earned five points from a drawn game with Ilkley.

Losing the toss for the first time this season, Skipton were put in to bat on a wicket that had been under water just a few hours before.

Despite the bowler friendly conditions Kevin Owens combined a watchful approach with some forceful strokeplay to punish the rare loose deliveries and finish up with a century.

The experienced Ilkley bowling attack of Richard Harrison and Darren Jayes continued to pressurise the Skipton batting making good use of the moving ball and variable bounce.

Despite this, Skipton refused to let the bowlers dominate and progressed to 64 before the loss of the first wicket.

On a day when only four batsmen reached double figures the key stand emerged when Steve Carling joined Owens to put Skipton into a match winning position.

A characteristic innings of 45 from Carling together with the continued determination of Kevin Owens took the game away from Ilkley. Owens continued to reach a well-earned century with 11 fours and 2 sixes.

The remaining Skipton batsmen came and went in the search for quick runs and the innings finished on 196, with Harrison picking up 4-75 from his non- stop stint of 25 overs.

As the wicket continued to offer assistance to the bowlers, Ilkley never got out of the starting blocks in their attempt to overhaul the home side total.

Runs were very hard to get against the contrasting attack of spinner Ajay Rajput and the tight seam bowling of Gary Owens. Supported by aggressive field positioning, wickets tumbled including the dismissal of Australian dangerman Dan Walker.

Reduced to 55 for 8, Owens was rewarded with 3-23 and Ajay Rajput again weaved his magic to pick up five wickets.

At this stage, an inopportune rain shower took the remaining venom from the wicket.

Despite a number of scares for the batsmen, including a wicket for new signing Simon Ashmore, the Ilkley pairing of Harrison and Jayes successfully negotiated the final 14 overs to eek out a point for Ilkley.

The overseas addition of Ajay Rajput is proving to be a valuable addition to the Skipton team with his third five wicket haul of the season.

With five points against one of last season's top sides, Skipton prospects are looking very bright for the rest of the season.

The second XI helped make it a fine weekend for the club winning by 38 runs at Bardsey. Batting first Skipton scored 238 for 8 with Richard Walker top scoring with 88, his first 50 runs coming in quick time with some fine aggressive shots.

In reply Bardsey were all out for 200 with opener Rob Hill scoring an equally fine 91 before being caught off the bowling of newly spectacled David Blanchard who finished with four wickets at a cost of only 11 runs.

Matt Walker and returning Captain Graham Summersgill shared five wickets. Nine of the wickets fell to catches by the Skipton side as opposed to the opposition who dropped a similar number.

Upper Wharfedale managed to hang on with nine wickets down to take a share of the spoils against a Guiseley side fired up by former Notts county player David Pennett.

Pennett has returned as skipper to the club where he was a junior and already his abrasive style has made a big impression with three of his batsmen having notched centuries.

The latest came at Woodlane with Ian Chaplin's 121 helping Guiseley to a score of 230. He hit 12 fours and 7 sixes in a lusty innings.

With Dave Daggett bagging 5-47 off his 12 overs Guiseley did not have things all their own way with only teenage opener Adam Waite (34) and wicketkeeper Ally Long (30) making any sort of impression apart from Chaplin.

Upper Wharfedale soon lost opener C Butt without scoring but L Barrett (29) and Paddy McKenna (78) restored the balance with a second wicket stand of 49.

Australian Grade A player McKenna provided the anchor for his side and they managed to hold out at 194-9 for a point with Pennett having taken 5-51 off 18 overs.

Upper Wharfedale now look forward to Sunday and making progress in the league's Waddilove Cup competition. They face a second round tie at Addingham The second team also retain an interest in the cup and they will entertain Addingham in a reversal of the fixtures in the Birtwhistle Cup.

The third round of the competitions will be played on June 17, with the semi-finals on July 15.

The Waddilove Cup final will be staged at the ground of Knaresborough CC on Sunday, August 5, while the Birtwhistle Cup final will be staged at the ground of Alwoodley CC on Sunday, August 12.