Title not won yet as Clipstone slip up

Clipstone’s opponents at Seventh Avenue was Papplewick & Linby wh,o after being relegated from the Premier League last season, had made an abysmal start and looked as though they might even suffer the same fate this season.

However, over the last month they have shown vastly improved form, so much so that, had they made a good start to the season, they may well have been challenging at the top.

Clipstone got away to their usual breakneck start with Justin Braithwaite slamming a quickfire 61 and being well-supported by Taylor Wright (45), Craig Brittlebank (35) and Scott Powell (53 not out).

Richard Hodgkinson (4-9) was the main threat but the score of 253-9 looked to be a good one by any standards and Papplewick faced a tough task to compete.

When Jason Gorman had struck twice with the score on only 31, one feared the worse, but a good stand between Alex Lloyd (61) and Mark Nelson, who has spent much of the season out injured, conjured up some hope for Papplewick.

Despite three more wickets falling cheaply, Nelson found the partner he deserved in Gareth Blinkhorn (52 not out) and they steered their side to a memorable win with nearly five overs to spare.

Nelson was without doubt the man of the match with a brilliant unbeaten 118 from 113 balls, including eight fours and seven sixes.

In this mood Papplewick will be more than a match for everyone but they must be ruing the shocking start they had to the season.

There can be no doubt that Anston would be an entirely different team without Amila Perera, and Caythorpe II who are struggling at the foot of the table would most likely have won their match at Ryton Road if the little Sri Lankan hadn’t been on the pitch.

Perera took 4-50 and Jon Plant 3-33 as Caythorpe disintegrated to 144 all out and another defeat looked ominous.

Although this did happen, it was not as clear-cut as one would have thought.

A terrible start was only halted when Perera arrived at the crease and completely took over.

Perera won the match on his own with a magnificent unbeaten 83 whilst Tim Haines with 3-42 did his best to create a shock.

The highest score by any of the other batsmen was 11 as Anston reached 149-7 and victory but what a struggle it was.

Glapwell are in free flow and they collapsed to another defeat this time at the hands of Notts & Arnold Amateur by four wickets.

Batting first at Park Avenue, Glapwell were all out for just 140 with Steve Gooding top-scoring on 46. Dilhan Cooray, who is more respected for his batting prowess, took 5-16 in a poor effort from the batsmen.

In reply Notts & Arnold struggled for runs but finally reached 153-6 to keep their lofty place in the table secure.

Worksop made a useful looking 224-7 against second-placed Farnsfield at Central Avenue. Bernhard Beukman (48), Conor Smith (37) and Ross Stallworthy (30 not out) were the top scorers, but one always had the feeling that this wasn’t going to be enough to make Farnsfield struggle.

And so it turned out to be with Matt Sisson (50), Callum McKenzie (84 not out), and Andrew Bell (48 not out) steering their side to an easy win on 225-4 with just over three overs to spare.

Despite their recent slip-up, Farnsfield are still in the shake-up and this win closed the gap at the top.

Killamarsh looked as though they had turned the corner a few weeks ago, but have now slipped back into the relegation positions.

They were soundly beaten by Thoresby Colliery, who had eight wickets to spare at the end.

Batting first, Killamarsh must have been thankful to skipper Steve Ludlam who made 69 out of a disappointing 140 all out.

Mohammad Yasar 3-33 and Akib Farook (3-33) did the damage and the score looked rather lightweight to say the least.

This proved to be the case as Ben Marson smashed a brilliant 95 and Australian Chris Bennett remained unbeaten on 37 as Thoresby coasted to 143-2.

Kiveton Park’s comeback took a further boost as they defeated North Wheatley with Leverton by 56 runs.

Kiveton piled up 233-7 with Richard Grainger (37) and Tom Haslam (79 not out) top-scoring. Callum Harrison (4-37) was the main threat for North Wheatley.

In reply North Wheatley were bowled out for 177. Luke Tong (67) and Richard Robinson (51) both batted well, but Richard Spurr (4-25) rolled back the years with a devastating spell of bowling to give Kiveton fresh hope for the future.