Mansfield Hosiery Mills staying optimistic despite big home defeat by Hucknall

Winning the toss, Hucknall batted and put on a huge 339-6 with 101 for Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Ben Martindale making 81, Sam Johnson 62, Dom Wheatley 41, and Daniel Blatherwick 34 not out; Lahiru Jayarathne with 3-71 off 10.

In reply Mills slumped to 98-7 before battling back to 212 all out in 49 overs, Mark Smallwood with 38, Jayarathne 39, Dan Harris 38, Abdul Basit 25 and Daniel Blatherwick taking 3-28 off 10

That was a fourth successive defeat since their only win but Mills' Adam Dobb said: Were were just on the wrong side of a good performance by Hucknall.

“We are still pretty optimistic. We have competed a lot more than what we did the last time we were in the Premier League.

“With two thirds of the season still to go it is now about trying to utilise that bit of experience we gained from last time and the start of this season to start putting on some points.

“Hucknall played superbly. Ben Martindale came out and looked a really organised player and you can understand why he is having success with Notts. He and Sam Johnson put on a really good partnership.

“I don't think we should be disheartened by the way we bowled and fielded. I don't think the boys bowled that badly at all. We gave it a really good go but sometimes you just have to take your hat off to the opposition. It was one of those days.

“Loftie-Eaton then played a stunning innings for his century. It was a superb batting display by Hucknall that made it really difficult for us.

“When you are chasing a big total like that it's difficult to stay up with the rate and ahead of the game.

“The batters didn't do too much wrong but you have to take risks when you're chasing 300-plus.

“But it was nice to see our lower order getting some runs and hopefully it's a sign of things to come with batting depth and people getting into a bit of nick.

“They showed a bit of fight and hopefully that's something that continues.”

Mills now head for Papplewick & Linby on Saturday and Dobb added: “Papplewick is a good place to go and play. You can get value for runs and wickets there. Hopefully we can be on song and get something out of it.”

It was a fine weekend for neighbours Cuckney as they beat rivals Papplewick by five wickets on Saturday and then marched into the ECB National Club Championship round three by crushing Langtons by 201 runs on Sunday.

Papplewick chose to bat but were 185 all out in 46 overs, Callum Mckenzie with 43, David France 35, Curtis Mitchell 31, Sam Watson 26, and Joe Worrall taking 3-26 off eight.

Cuckney reached 186-5 in 40.4 overs, opener Tom Rowe hitting 75 not out and Adam Tillcock 49, combining for a fourth wicket stand of 71; Jim Rhodes with 3-34 off 10.

Against Langtons, Cuckney made a huge 345-5 in 40 overs with Nick Langford reaching 129, Tom Rowe 93, Adam Tillcock 65 not out, and Tom Ullyott 30.

Langtons were bowled out for 144 in 28.1 overs, Maaz Sheth with 38, Fayjan Patel 36 and Nick Keast 4-30 off eight overs.

“It was a good result against Papplewick in the end and nice to get a win at home and bounce back from Bank Holiday Monday's defeat,” said captain Tom Ullyott.

“Then we won our national knockout cup game on Sunday too, so it was a good weekend all-round.

“Chasing 185 at home with the way the weather has been lately, we'd be fairly confident of chasing that against most sides.

“It's a small ground so you can score quickly if you need to. We bowled well and never really looked in any trouble.”

On Saturday they are at Attenborough and Ullyott added: “It is a nice place to play and we go there two weekends in a row as we now have them there in the next round of the national knockout too.

“It's only the start of June and we seem like we are in good nick so far.”