Clifton And Papplewick Start To Pull Away

The race for the 2010 Nottinghamshire Premier League title is far from a foregone conclusion but two sides, Clifton and Papplewick, are slowly pulling away from the pack.

At the other end of the table, Attenborough and Wollaton need to start stringing together some results to prevent relegation.

Cuckney were on the receiving end of leaders Clifton, losing at home by 6 wickets. The home side won the toss and batted first and were bowled out in the 45th over for 139 with only Richard Stroh (39) and Tom Ullyott (42*) making significant contributions; Luke Fletcher did the damage with the astonishing figures of 7-22 from 14.4 overs. Clifton raced past that total in just 28.2 overs for the loss of 4 wickets with Dan Birch leading the charge with 75 not out supported by Martin Weightman with 40 not out.

Second-placed Papplewick travelled to Radcliffe and secured 19 points with a 5 wicket win; the home side batted first and closed on a reasonable 216 for 8 with Richard Brooks scoring 51, Mitchell Gowland 36 and Luc Durandt 35. Taimoor Khan was recorded the best figures for Papplewick 3 for 31. The visitors went past the Radcliffe score with seven overs to spare – Alex Lloyd getting 57, Mark Nelson 48 and Taimoor Khan rounding off an excellent day with 40 not out.

Kimberley secured their second successive win when they secured an impressive nine wicket win against a Welbeck side that started the day in third position but have now slipped to seventh. Welbeck batted first but were dismissed for just 144 with Matt Wright grabbing 4-26 and George Bacon 3-35. The Kimberley side secured the full 20 points in just 29 overs with Alex Robinson and Jarred Sewell both unbeaten at the close with 48 and 52 respectively. This result promotes Kimberley to fourth in the table.

Caythorpe’s batting has stuttered on occasions this season but they will have been delighted to post 355 for at home to Attenborough. Jim Hawley was the headline act with 174 not out from just 144 balls including 21 fours and four sixes. He was given strong support from Steve Allcoat (91) and Guy Welton (60). The bottom-placed side struggled in the face of this huge target and were dismissed for 217 in just shy of 40 overs with Sam Clulow contributing 66 and Andy Simkiss 48. James Hemmings and Jim Hindson grabbed four wickets apiece.

Mansfield Hosiery Mills started the day in eleventh but will have been heartened by the narrow 6 run win over the Notts Academy side at Lady Bay. Scott Elstone won the toss for the Academy and asked the Mansfield side to bat first and would have been disappointed that they posted 246 for 5 with Sudesh Fernando grabbing 114 not out, supported by Gareth Curtis with 39 and Paul Burdett with 38. The Notts youngsters have been suffering with poor availability due to injuries and included coach Paul Johnson in their side and fell just short of their target when they were dismissed for 240 in 47.2 overs; Akhil Patel scored 76 and Sam Wood 44.

The final match of the day saw Wollaton slip into the drop zone after a 9 wicket loss at home to West Indian Cavaliers; the home side batted first and were bowled out for 163 with only Philip Wells making a significant contribution with 41 not out. Former England star Alex Tudor continued his fine form with 4-51 supported by Zubin Faisal with 3-38. The Cavaliers overcame the total in a hurry for the loss of just Bilal Shafayat (82) with Aqib Afzaal seeing them home in just over 25 overs with an unbeaten 67.