Cuckney’s lead cut as Nottinghamshire Premier League title race hots up

Cuckney’s lead at the top of the Notts Premier League table has been cut to just 10 points after their home match against the Nottinghamshire Academy ended in abandonment.
cricket - Mansfield Hosiery Mills v Farnsfield, hosiery mills bowling.cricket - Mansfield Hosiery Mills v Farnsfield, hosiery mills bowling.
cricket - Mansfield Hosiery Mills v Farnsfield, hosiery mills bowling.

Although only five overs were lost to the rain, Cuckney were still 62 runs short of a stiff target set by the county side.

The Academy had earlier smashed their way to 323 for 4 with Sam Wood headlining with 81 not out with support from Sam Kelsall (77), Hassan Azad (58) and Adam Tillcock (40*). Will Root led the Cuckney attack taking 4 for 62.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

When time ran out after 45 overs of the second innings, Cuckney had reached 261 for 3 with Nick Langford hitting a memorable 108 (from 100 balls with14 fours and three sixes) and Root continuing his excellent day with an unbeaten 92.

The West Indian Cavaliers took full advantage and secured their 13th win of the season when they won at Caythorpe by five wickets.

The home side were dismissed in the final over of their innings for 152, having been 109 for 3 at one stage after Darren Bicknell (39) got them off to a solid start.

Usman Afzaal continued his excellent season with the ball taking 3 for 36 with a pair of wickets each for Akhil Patel and Sadiq Hassan.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Perhaps with one eye on the rain, the Cavs took their usual speedy route to their target but not before they lost five wickets.

The eventually chased down their target in the 32nd over with Afzaal steadying the ship with a cautious innings of 57.

Rolls Royce are not out of the championship race as they now sit in third just 12 points from the top spot after they gave a second tough beating of the season to Plumtree at Watnall Road.

Plumtree are now firmly in the danger zone after their batting unit failed again when they were skittled for just 107 inside 35 overs.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Only Matt Milnes (42 not out) stood firm as Tom Lungley (4 for 24) and Adam Shepherd (3 for 41) combined to initially reduce the visitors to 39 for 7 before the tailed wagged.

Rolls also kept a wary eye on the rain clouds as they reached their target in 22 overs.

They lost four wickets but an unbroken stand of 58 for the fifth wicket between Lungley (36*) and Liam Andrews (27*) saw them home.

Kimberley welcomed Welbeck to the 2BM Ground and secured a 17-point winning draw, a result that leaves Welbeck languishing in 10th just 13 points from the drop zone.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Home side Kimberley hit an impressive 305 for 6 in the first innings with Paldip Sidhu scoring a well-paced 114 at the top of the order.

Sam Ogrizovic confirmed his return to form with the bat with 86 before Dom Brown smashed 48 not out from 22 balls with Rob French and Olly Pringle each grabbing a pair of wickets.

Welbeck’s response soon fell behind the required rate and they closed 145 runs shy of their target for the loss of eight wickets.

Martyn Dobson (52) and Jonny Loates (33) were the key contributors with spinners Chris Glover (3-38) and Alex King (3-48) getting on top

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Farnsfield’s visit to Mansfield Hosiery Mills also ended early due to the rain but the side in eleventh did secure a valuable nine points.

The visitors were dismissed for 148 in the final over of the first innings with Sudesh Fernando taking 4 for 17 from eight overs with skipper Matt New adding 3 for 29.

Paul Franks struck 45 batting at three but no other Farnsfield player could better Graeme White’s 27.

Any ideas that the Millers had of an easy victory were dashed when they were reduced to 87 for 7 from 37.4 overs before the game was abandoned due to the weather.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Tom New remained 29 not out and there were two wickets each for Jamie Wagstaff, Mark Silcock and David Loveridge.

Papplewick’s chances of survival receded as they slipped to a 193 run defeat away at Clifton; the home side posted 272 for 6 in the first innings with Richard Harris top-scoring with 85 supported by all-rounder Martin Weightman’s knock of 77 with Papplewick’s Jason Elliott taking 4-66. Elliott was last out in his side’s innings as they were dismissed in the 20th over for just 79 with David Lucas grabbing 5-35 from 9 overs and two wickets each for Dom Harvey and Weightman, who conceded no runs in the eight balls that he bowled.