Cuckney slip up against Papplewick & Linby as gap widens at the top

Cuckney vice captain Tom Ullyott said: “We probably weren't at the races all day. Bowling, our line and length was out and they built a nice partnership to start with.

“We did drag it back really well to limit them to 242, but felt we had probably given them 20 or 30 too many runs. That proved to be the case.

“And you don't win too many games of cricket when you give them 242 and are then 23-4 and 53-5.

“We gave ourselves a bit of a taller order than we would have liked with the ball and then from the batting perspective we didn't really fire to be honest, even though we felt we had all the tools going into it.

“But you won't win every game of cricket. We just didn't get the job done – no set reason. It was no one's fault.

“It was a team effort and we all came up a bit short on the day. You won't win many games when that happens.

“It is disappointing to lose a game to say the least and it's given us a bit of a tall order now as Cavaliers won and created a bit of daylight between us.

“There is work to do but we're only halfway through the season and there are plenty of games left.”

Papplewick won the toss and chose to bat, making 242-8 from their 50 overs.

Openers Louis Bhabra (78) and Callum Mckenzie (89) were in magnificent form with a first wicket stand of 169 and Ben Trevor-Jones added 35.

Defending champions Cuckney finally got about them and wickets fell with Nick Keast claiming 4-40 from his 10 overs.

However, Cuckney's reply with the bat fell well short as they slumped to 196 all out in 44.5 overs.

They had a poor start as they lost Tom Rowe with only 11 scored and were soon 23-4 and 53-5.

Vice captain Tom Ullyott (60) and captain Adam Tillcock (49) finally dug in with a 97 partnership for the sixth wicket.

But the tail was picked off with 4-20 from 7.5 overs from Ben Bhabra as Papplewick notched up a memorable success.

To make matters worse, Cuckney saw leaders Cavaliers & Carrington win by eight wickets at Notts & Arnold Amateur to extend their advantage at the top to 10 points.

Cuckney now need to quickly bounce back away at Wollaton this Saturday with Cavaliers at home to a powerful Kimberley Institute.

“We still sit second,” said Ullyott.

“Wollaton away is always a tricky place to go, but we need to win every game now as Cavaliers are putting in performances week after week.

“I think we need to win the rest of our games and we will do our best to do that and enjoy it.”