Clifton control title chase with Wollaton win

2009 champions Clifton on top

Nottinghamshire Premier League silverware currently sits with 2009 champions Clifton Village who remain on top of the league after a 20 point win at home to Wollaton.

Batting first after losing the toss, the home side piled on the runs and ended up with 284 for 6 with Dan Birch cashing-in with 141 from just 138 balls including 13 fours and four sixes.

He had excellent support from Scott McNeil with an unbeaten 91. Philip Wells lead the Wollaton attack taking 4-60.

Wollaton were never really in the hunt in their reply and Luke Fletcher did the damage for the champion taking 4-47 as the visitors were dismissed for 178, only Ian Dodd providing any solid resistance with an innings of 51.

Round 10 of games in the league saw some high-scoring and very close matches and the competition remains fierce with just 24 points separating the top seven clubs whihc means the chase for the title is wide open and many clubs will remain hopeful of getting their hands on the trophy.

West Indian Cavaliers are now in equal third place just ten points from top-spot after getting the better of a draw against Attenborough at Birchover Park.

The visitors won the toss and may have regretted the decision after the Cavaliers racked up the day’s highest total with 321 for five and declared in the 44th over.

Bilal Shafayat smashed 124 from just 103 balls and Aqib Afzaal 117 not out from 121 balls; Morteza Ali lent valuable support with 51. The only Attenborough bowler to make inroads was Atif Sheikh with 4-64.

Bilal Shafayat smashed 124 from 103 balls

The visitors were always going to struggle to match that score, even with the addition over provided by the Cavaliers’ declaration but they did well to avoid losing the match by closing on 194 for eight.

Ben Sheppard (34) and Chris Allcoat (60 not out) were the headline batters with Alex Tudor (3-48) and Tinashe Panyanagara (3-50) standing out in the Cavaliers’ attack.

Welbeck Colliery took a 20 point win at Mansfield Hosiery Mills to remain in touch with the leaders in sixth place.

The visitors won the toss and fielded first and will have been satisfied to bowl the Mansfield site out for 177 in 49 overs with Raman Sharma starring with 4-41 and Jonathan Ball taking 3-45.

For Mansfield, there were three significant contributions from Gareth Curtis (34), Sudesh Fernando (40) and Mark Smallwood (31).

Welbeck overcame this total in exactly 48 overs for the loss of seven wickets with Noel Gie (47) and Vikram Atri (37) leading the way; Steve Ludlum grabbing his first five wicket haul of the season with 5-50.

The Notts Academy have had a good few weeks and played their part to the full in a high-scoring game with Cuckney at Lady Bay.

The youngsters batted first after losing the toss and will have been reasonably satisfied with 244 for the loss of nine wickets in their 50 overs.

Akhil Patel hit the Academy’s third ton of the season (116 from 141 balls) and Karanjit Bansal made 42. Ian Parkin was the leading Cuckney bowler securing 5-45 from 13 overs.

In reply, Cuckney fell just one run short with seven wickets down and had to settle for a losing draw; skipper Richard Stroh struck 75, Adam Burgess 57 and Daniel Watson 31.

Cuckney now sit in seventh place in the table and the Academy now in equal third.

Papplewick were another side piling on the runs as they scored 309 for seven in their 50 overs in their home match against Caythorpe; every side winning the toss on Saturday inserted the opposition and Caythorpe were no different.

Jim Hindson was the visitors’ best bowler with 3-76; for Papplewick, skipper Martin Bekker struck 95, Alex Lloyd 77 and Richard King 36.

Caythorpe never got close to their target and finished on 170 for seven with Steve Randall ending on 37 not out and Guy Welton 35.

The final game of the day took place at the Private Ground where Kimberley lost another high-scoring game this time against Radcliffe; the visitors batted first and went to tea with 278 for 6 on the board.

Luc Durandt (113) and Mitchell Gowland (71) put on 148 for the second wicket with Richard Adams leading the Kimberley attack with 3-89.

Kimberley were unable to resist the Radcliffe attack and were bowled out for 220 in the 47th over; George Bacon top scored with 74 and he was supported by skipper Sam Ogrizovic (50) and Jon Terry (38).

Rob Sutton took 3-52 and Simon Ward (3-39) as the outstanding Radcliffe bowlers.