Vale standing firm at the top - The Jewish Chronicle

London Maccabi Vale 1st maintained their grip at the top of the Middlesex Sunday League Division One with a three-wicket victory over West Harrow. Neil Lederman (4-26) and Alex Gold (3-54) were their top performers as LMV restricted West Harrow to 173. Ryan Kangisser, Adam Brand and Adam Brami were the other wicket takers. LMV made heavy weather of reaching the target with star batsman Adam Brand out for a golden duck. Brami, Jacob Holden, Paul Buxton and Aaron Salamon contributed some useful runs as LMV continued their unbeaten run with their third win in four games. Belmont & Edgware 1st suffered their third defeat in four as they were beaten by UCS Old Boys. A woeful batting display saw BECC dismissed for 134 with Daniel Durban one of only four batsmen into double figures. Ben Bloom ripped the heart of the innings with a devastating burst of 4-27. Saul Weitzman, Gavin Diamond and Neil Myeroff bowled tight spells but UCS cruised home with four overs to spare. South Manchester Maccabi all-rounder Mike Filson smashed 186 in 30 overs as the side mauled arch rivals Manchester Maccabi in the Manchester Jewish Cricket League. Filson, who played rugby for Team Great Britain at the 2005 Maccabiah Games, missed out on his own league record by just two runs as he was dismissed in the last over of the innings. Laurence Newman contributed 65. A club record second wicket partnership of 166 between Andrew Niman (77) and David First (68) helped Bury and Whitefield to a 180-run cup victory over Leeds. In a match that represented the last chance of silverware for both sides, the pair came together with 12 on the board. Niman played with patience early on to see of the good bowling of Jonathan Dobkin and Daniel Goldsborough who only went for 25 and 17 respectively from their seven overs. He played them out before cutting loose with some excellent strokeplay, finding the boundaries with ease. Niman and First were dismissed in consecutive balls in the 29th over, leaving Mark Blackston to take his average this season to 90 with an unbeaten 26. Set 225 to win, Leeds got off to the worst possible start when Blackston had Goldsbrough caught superbly at slip by Natan Fagleman in the first over. The all-rounder finished with figures of 2-3 as Leeds struggled to keep up with the rate. Daniel Paul chipped in with three wickets and Josh Rose claimed another two to finally kill off Leeds.