Rain wrecks Cuckney’s hopes in big showdown with title rivals Cavaliers & Carrington

Cavaliers won by four wickets in a game affected by rain and won on the Duckworth-Lewis method.

“It was shaping up to be a good game. We knew there was weather around but it came a lot later than we had anticipated,” said assistant captain Richard Bostock.

“It ruined a game that was going to the wire.

“They were well ahead on Duckworth-Lewis, but with eight overs left they still needed another 30 to win if we were to play out the full 50 overs as they were trying to chase down the full total.”

He added: “We knew from the fixtures we had an easier start to the year and thought we could take maximum points from most games, but now the tough fixtures are coming thick and fast.

“Our last two games were against top three teams and they were pretty close. We were not well beaten in either game and there were moments in both games it could have turned and we could have won both.

“That's how the Notts Premier League goes and you have to be really on it to take points.

“We always have decent battles against Plumtree but we will be looking to bounce straight back as we don't expect to lose too many in a season with our aim of winning the league.

“We have to bounce back and the lads are well aware of that. But there were plenty of positives to take from last weekend.

“It was fine margins and we will be turning up at Plumtree ready to go.”

Cuckney did not start well and on 83-5 were in serious trouble.

But Nick Langford came in to score a magnificent 113 not out and, alongside Josh Porter (40), put on a stabilising 89 partnership for the sixth wicket.

Bostock added an important 28 not out as they finished up with a decent 278-7, Chris Sanders claiming 3-65 for Cavs.

In reply, Cavaliers set off at a pace with rain in the forecast and knowing they would need to score 222 by 41.3 overs under Duckworth-Lewis should the game be ended prematurely.

They had surpassed that by the time the heavens opened and had scored 248-6 to secure all eight points and further open up the gap at the top from Cuckney to 10 points.

Sunny Patel hit 82, Shivsinh Thaker 59, and Fateh Singh 52 while Andrew Hazeldine took 3-52.

On Langford's century, Bostock said: “That's back-to-back hundreds which we've not seen for a while and it was a brilliantly measured knock.

“We were reduced quite early to 80-5 but he kept a level head and saw us through to a decent total.”

A third defeat in four games, Cuckney are now third and Saturday's opponents Plumtree two places below them.