Clipstone cement Bassetlaw top spot

Clipstone cemented their position at the head of the Bassetlaw League Championship table with a very easy win over North Wheatley with Leverton, who have collapsed dramatically after a splendid start to the season.
Danny Bircumshaw in batting action for Glapwell.Danny Bircumshaw in batting action for Glapwell.
Danny Bircumshaw in batting action for Glapwell.

It’s not that North Wheatley are a bad side, the fact is that Clipstone are very good and are looking certain Championship winners at this moment in time.

Batting first, North Wheatley could only muster a paltry 120 runs with Ian Woodall completely wrecking their innings with 4-8.

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Only Jon Loates, with 40, showed any sign of resistance and from the start of the Clipstone innings the result was never in doubt.

Justin Braithwaite simply slayed the bowling to all parts of the ground with a hurricane knock of 61 and Josh Flowers finished the job off with an unbeaten 34.

Dave Willcox (3-15) made a supreme effort, but it was never going to be enough as Clipstone coasted to 124-3 and a seven-wicket win.

What made things even better for Clipstone was that Farnsfield, their only real threat, came an absolute cropper at Fourth Avenue as Thoresby Colliery completely thrashed them out of sight. Thoresby made 198-7, mainly due to the efforts of Martin Cheshire (43), Akif Farook (32) and Australian Chris Bennett, who made a brilliant 72 not out. Dave Loveridge was Farnsfield’s best bowler with 3-46.

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The reply from a Farnsfield point of view was dreadful as they were bowled out for just 102.

Matt Sisson, with 53, saved them from even worse humiliation as Thoresby literally rolled over them.

Mohammad Yasar, with 3-27, was Thoresby’s best bowler, but the whole team were a credit and must wonder why they can’t play like this regularly instead of just now and then.

The best bowling in the Championship came from Amila Perera of Anston.

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He single-handedly destroyed Glapwell who, with the exception of Danny Bircumshaw (40), looked like a team who had never seen a bat in their life. Perera took an incredible 7-8 as Glapwell were bowled out for just 107.

Although they lost five wickets in reaching this meagre target, Anston were never in a lot of trouble and Callum Smith (54 not out) steered them home to an easy 20 points.

The most exciting match of the day took place at Papplewick where the home side clinched a three wicket win over Worksop with three balls remaining.

Worksop batted first and, after a difficult start, managed 236 all out, but importantly handed two overs to Papplewick which were to prove vital.

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The innings was based on a brilliant stand by Liam Ainger (85) and Bernhard Beukman (64) but finished disappointingly as the last five batsman tried to hit every ball out of the ground only to fail dismally. Ross Fitz-John took 5-53 and skipper Jim Rhodes weighed in with 3-48.

Papplewick were indebted to Joe Walker (48), Ross Fitz-John (39) and a very important late flurry of 37 from Tom Bowers as well as an inordinate amount of leg side wides, which was unforgivable. Dave Hancocks (3-43) was the best bowler for Worksop, who were left to rue what might have been as Papplewick reached 237-7 and victory.

Caythorpe II managed their first win of the season in another thriller against Killamarsh.

The Killamarsh innings was dominated by skipper Steve Ludlam, who was unfortunate not to land a century when he was dismissed for 97.

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Edward Clarke (4-47) and Andrew Staszkiewicz (4-51) bowled tidily for Caythorpe, who closed out the Killamarsh innings on 205 all out.

Some dogged batting by James Hemmings (50), Oliver Clarke (46), and Andrew Staszkiewicz (46) steered Caythorpe to their first win of the season on 206-8 while Aaron Green (4-47) tried very hard to turn the tide towards his side.

Biggest win of the day was at Goosedale where Notts & Arnold Amateur blasted Kiveton Park by a massive 150 runs.

Man of the match was Craig Harrison, who scored an excellent 123 runs and then followed that up with 3-37 with the ball.

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Batting first, Notts & Arnold made 326-8 with Liam Patterson-White supporting Harrison well with 85 while Rob Coxon, with 3-24, was the pick of the Kiveton attack.

Kiveton’s reply was 176 all out with James Gilbert (68 not out) and Ryan Musgrove (32) leading the way in this rather one-sided match.

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