Cuckney pounce on Clifton slip-up to go top

With all the recent wet weather, there were a few slow sticky pitches to be negotiated, so it was a day to win the toss and bowl.

Table toppers Clifton Village fell victim to just that plan, as visiting skipper Matthew Wood called correctly and invited his hosts to bat.

It wasn’t the worst looking of fates as Scott McNeill (44) added 71 with Tim le Breton for the first wicket.

When le Breton was third out for 40, Shreyas Iyer came to the crease and added 51 for the fourth wicket with Richard Harris.

Despite Iyer’s unbeaten 59 from 44 balls, Clifton’s innings ended in a flurry of wickets as they slipped from 151-3 to 184-9 from their 50 overs. Graeme White led the Plumtree bowling with figures of 4-31.

Plumtree’s reply saw the league’s leading bowler strike early, but the Bens Storey and Milnes, led the recovery, adding 70 before Storey fell for 40.

Milnes added a further 65 with David Bedingham before he fell for 54. Bedingham was next to go for a near run a ball 43 and, despite losing a further couple of wickets, Plumtree made their target with four balls to spare.

Weightman ended with another three wickets, for 42 runs, as Clifton claimed four points in defeat.

Cuckney made the trip to Hosiery Mills sitting just six points behind Clifton as play began.

Nick Langford made the right call at the toss, and asked the home side to bat first.

The Millers’ opening stand of 87 was ended when Ian Parkin had Gareth Curtis caught for 31.

Matt New went on to total 62 before becoming Parkin’s second victim. Parkin went on to complete a five wicket haul as the MHM innings closed on 189-5, Tom New making an unbeaten 50, while Parkin’s five came at the cost of 37 runs.

In reply, Cuckney were rarely troubled, the opening pair taking the score to 88 before Adam Burgess and Nick Langford were removed in quick succession.

Daniel Wood joined Luke Thomas at the crease, and the pair were still there at the end as they shared an unbroken stand of 103 to secure the win and put Cuckney back on top of the table.

Wood made 57 not out with Thomas carrying his bat for exactly 100 from 151 balls.

MHM’s two points leaving them still 18 points adrift at the foot of the table.

The West Indian Cavaliers travelled to Rolls Royce Leisure, where their hosts invited them to bat first.

Atif Sheikh’s three wicket burst helped reduce them to 30 for four, before Akhil Patel (43) and Bilal Shafayat were able to steady things with a partnership of 52.

Shafayat reached 58, before he was last out, having struggled to find any other substantive partnership, as the side were bowled out for 151 from 46 overs. Matthew Roberts claimed 3-39 and Sheikh 3-50 for Rolls.

Rolls never got going in reply, with only Shaun Levy putting up any kind of resistance. He batted through the entire innings for an unbeaten 66.

Extras were the next best score with 25 as Rolls fell 16 runs short, dismissed inside 48 overs for 136.

Ameer Ahmed’s 3-25 led the Cavs’ bowling, as the rest of the wickets were shared around.

The four points Rolls totalled were enough to leave them tied with Cavs in third, 17 behind Cuckney.

At Caythorpe, Kimberley Institute skipper Sam Ogrizovic made the wrong call and found his side asked to have first bat on a pitch where runs would prove hard to come by.

Wickets fell regularly as only Dominic Wheatley was able to hang around, making 38 not out from the side’s total of 138 from 44.4 overs, George McCaffrey, with 4-44, and Thomas Hemmings, 3-32, led the bowling.

Caythorpe’s reply needed all but three balls of the extra five overs they gained by bowling their opposition out, James Mann claiming the first five wickets to fall as he claimed 5-31 from his 15 overs.

Martin Dobson and Mat Dowman compiled the only stand of note, as they combined for a 52-run partnership, but at 102 for seven, Kimberley were slight favourites.

Dobson found back-up from first George McCaffrey and then Matt Daffin as he made a patient 68 not out to lead Caythorpe to a two wicket win. Kimberley’s three points seemed a small reward for such a tight contest.

The NCCC Academy side travelled to Radcliffe-on-Trent with both sides looking for their first win of the season.

The visiting side won the toss, and in keeping with the theme of the day, chose to bowl.

Brett Hutton and Paul Franks reduced their hosts to 48-5, Franks on his way to taking 4-11 from seven overs.

Ben Carr and David Lucas combined in a stand of 72 before Carr fell for 41. Lucas finished up not out on 63 as Radcliffe totalled 165-6 from their 50 overs.

The Academy found themselves in early trouble at 15-2, before Sam Wood joined Anuj Dal in the match-winning partnership.

Dal remaining unbeaten on 47, while Wood compiled his century, finishing 108 not out from 91 balls.

The eight wicket win was completed inside 35 overs and saw Radcliffe claim just a single point.

The match at Ordsall was the exception that proved the rule.

Home skipper Paul van den Heuvel did elect to bowl in winning the toss, but it didn’t prove to be as effective as elsewhere.

They did have Welbeck Colliery 6-2 early on, but Matthew Higgins (44) teamed up with Richard Stroh to add 101 for the third wicket. Stroh went on to make 115, but couldn’t find anyone else to stick around with him, Welbeck ending on 205-9e from their 50 overs, Aqab Ahmed taking 6-59 for the hosts.

Ordsall Bridon were never in the hunt, losing nine wickets for 33 runs as they slumped to 62-9.

Only Matthew Makings’ 51 in a 10th wicket stand of 72 got them to the respectability of 134 all out., Robert French finishing up with 4-24 and Richard Stroh completing an all-round day with 3-15, Bridon securing four points to extend their cushion over the bottom two just slightly.