Leaders Cuckney held, but increase gap at the top

Batting first, the Bears saw each of the first three partnerships add at least 50 runs as opener Adam Burgess made 70.

With contributions of 38 from Lewis Bramley, 34 from Will Butler and 32 from Nick Langford, the visitors totalled 272-9 from their 50 overs.

Martyn Long took 4-62 as wickets fell late in the effort to add runs.

Bridon never got going in reply, slumping to 109-8. Henry Appleyard and Aqab Ahmed added 57 for the ninth wicket as Ahmed led the rearguard, his unbeaten 53 helping Ordsall to secure the draw as they closed out on 188 for nine.

With maximum bonus points, Cuckney were able to take 18 points home with them, Ordsall getting eight.

Plumtree lifted themselves into a tie for second after gaining the best of a drawn game at Welbeck Colliery.

The Plums won the toss and chose to bat, their total of 269-4 owing much to a third wicket stand of 131 between Sam Storey (76) and David Bedingham.

Bedingham also featured in the unbeaten fifth wicket pairing that added 66 to close the innings, Bedingham ending not out on 111 from 97 balls with Welbeck trying eight bowlers in an effort to stem the tide.

The Colliers made a solid start to the innings, Matthew Higgins (46) and Raman Sharma (30) combining for a 59-run opening stand.

Sadly for them they continued to lose wickets at a steady drip as only Jake Ball (36) and David Hunt (33 not out) were able to provide much run support.

In the end, Hunt and Ashley Willis were able to see out the remaining four overs to secure a draw, Plumtree collecting 18 points and Welbeck six.

It was a relegation zone dogfight at Radcliffe-on-Trent where Mansfield Hosiery Mills came calling.

The Millers won the coin toss and chose to bat first and, as has been the case so often before, they owed their final score to the New brothers.

They teamed to add 81 for the second wicket before Matt fell for 57. Tom provided the bulwark for the innings before finally falling for 91 as a flurry of wickets fell in a late chase for runs, the innings closing on 224-7, with Eddie Torr claiming figures of 3-61.

At 40-5 Radcliffe found themselves in trouble before Lui Holliday (44) and Jake Fish (54) led the fightback, though when Fish fell MHM were in with a winning shout.

Radcliffe’s tail held out, though, but with MHM taking 17 points to Radcliffe’s six, they will be the happier of the sides.

Starting the day in second, Caythorpe played host to Clifton Village hoping to avoid the fate of previous incumbents of second place.

Losing the toss and having to bowl wasn’t going to assist them. Every one of Clifton’s top seven got in, but none were able to fully take advantage.

Shreyas Iyer (42) briefly threatened to take the innings by the scruff of the neck before holing out. The fourth wicket stand between Caleb Mierkalns and Martin Weightman reached 52 and was the highest of the innings, Weightman falling on 49 trying to reach 50 with a boundary.

At 221-6 going into the final over, Daniel Mierkalns had hit 38 and maximum batting points were in reach, but crucially, he wasn’t on strike.

James Hawley was the bowler for a remarkable five balls that saw four wickets fall, three of them stumpings and the final three making up that rare bowling feat, a hat-trick.

Hawley finished with figures of 5-22 as the Village were dismissed for 221.

Caythorpe’s lost two early wickets in reply, the second of which was one of those that batsmen hate. Steve Allcoat was run out after Martyn Dobson hit one back at the bowler Martin Weightman, whose attempt to stop the bowl succeeded in deflecting the ball onto the stumps, catching Allcoat backing up.

Mat Dowman joined Dobson at the crease and the pair began to painstakingly rebuild the innings., adding 114 before Iyer removed Dowman’s middle stump for 72.

Iyer struck twice more in quick succession, leaving Caythorpe 126-5.

Dobson began to accelerate his scoring and, in combination with Ben Powell, added a further 79 before, with 18 required from the final over, he was run out attempting a high risk second run. Dobson’s final tally of 90 was his highest in Caythorpe colours. Iyer picked up a fourth victim as the innings closed at 207-7, Clifton taking 16 points and Caythorpe nine.

Rolls Royce Leisure began the day in third and would have fancied their chances of success as they travelled to Lady Bay to take on the NCB Academy.

The home side won the toss and asked Rolls to bat, a decision that was justified as they reduced their visitors to 32-3.

At this point Shaun Levy teamed with Tom Lungley in a partnership worth 129, before Lungley fell for 54.

Levy would finish not out on 87 as Rolls totalled 193-5 from their 50 overs, Luke Wood leading the Academy attack with 3-39.

The home side’s opening pair made inroads to the target, getting the score to 75 before Jake Libby fell on 37.

Hassan Azad added 53 for the third wicket with Adam Tillcock before seeing his side home with an unbeaten 79 as the target was reached with more than three overs to spare.

The West Indian Cavaliers travelled to Kimberley Institute looking to get their season back on track after having dropped two of three games in recent weeks.

Their hosts won the toss and opted to bat first. The innings was bookended by a pair of 50-run partnerships, Dominic Brown and Tom Rowe (41) adding 67 for the second wicket and George Bacon (33 not out) adding 51 with Alex King for the seventh.

In between, Usman Afzaal took 3-54 as Institute totalled 209-6 from their 50 overs.

Cavs looked in good shape at 90-1, with Akhil Patel (44) and Dominic Williamson (34) going will in tandem, but the fall of Patel precipitated another Cavs collapse, as they surrendered to 138-9. With five overs left Kimberley looked set for a rare victory, but Ameer Ahmed and Rikki Anderson were able to survive for the draw, Chris Glover doing his best for the hosts, snaffling five wickets for 25 runs from his 15 overs, Kimberley taking the lion’s share of the points, 17 to four.