Kimberley Institute blow great chance to close gap on top two
Kimberley Institute CC blew a great chance to close the gap on Cuckney in runners-up spot when they lost by three wickets at home to Notts & Arnold Amateur in the Nottinghamshire Premier League on Saturday.
Cuckney were also beaten on Saturday, so the six-point gap remains with just three games remaining.
Kimberley now face a huge game away at champions-elect Cavaliers & Carrington this Saturday while Cuckney host Plumtree.
“We are extremely disappointed as it was a poor performance by us on Saturday,” said captain Alex King.
“It was a missed opportunity with Cuckney and Cavaliers both losing and a strange day in the league with all the top three losing.
“Scoring 143 at Kimberley is never enough runs on the board so we knew we would need early wickets.
“Martin Weightman took two in the first over and with three down we had some momentum.
“But they hung around for the fourth wicket and got home.
“We now face a huge task on Saturday though we do have a good record at Cavaliers, having beaten them there on a couple of occasions and beat them earlier this season.”
Kimberley were asked to bat first and were all out for 146 in 33.1 overs.
Akhil Patel (33) and George Bacon (37) put on 65 for the opening wicket.
But only Ross Whiteley (27) managed to add any significant runs to that as wickets fell regularly.
Zahid Mansoor took 3-24 and Adam Martin 3-55.
Notts & Arnold then reached a winning 147-7 in 32.3 overs.
But they made a poor start as they lost two wickets with just one run on the board and were then 31-3.
But Mansoor (65) and Arnav Jumie (32) made an 82-run stand for the fourth wicket and turned the game in their favour, Weightman taking 3-21 from six overs.