Harris Helps Clifton Extend Lead

This Saturday's games took place not in the anticipated heat wave but somewhat more clement weather but some of the cricket was sufficiently enticing to make the weather a secondary consideration.

Top side Clifton Village extended their lead at the top to 10 points with the best of a draw against Welbeck Colliery at the Clifton Oval; the leaders won the toss and batted first and made hay in scoring 314 for 6; Richard Harris again led the effort with 132, his second ton of the season, off just 123 balls. He was ably supported in the run-gathering by Liam Andrews (87) with whom he shared a second wicket partnership of 222. Rob French was the leading Welbeck bowler with 3-43.

Welbeck couldn't get close to their target but managed to secure a draw by closing on 251-7; Guy Darwin (65), Jon Ball (42*) and Dean Williams (33*) were the leading batters with Andrews rounding off a successful day with 3-68.

Second placed Papplewick hosted Cuckney and also could not manage more than a draw; the visitors batted first and went to tea at 289 for 7 with Lucas Carlisle securing 102 supported by Will Butler with 66. Papplewick ended up 70 runs short of the winning target on 220 for 7; Alex Lloyd caught the eye with 74, supported by skipper Martin Bekker (37) and Phil DeFreitas (34). The leading Cuckney bowler was Ian Parkin with 3-72.

Another high-scoring draw took place at Mansfield Hosiery Mills who were unable to overtake the first innings total of 274 for set by Caythorpe; Guy Welton (62) and Jim Hawley (64) were the leading visiting batters Stephen Ludlam did most damage with the ball taking 4-54. In reply, Mansfield posted 224 for 8 Keshara Jayasinghe grabbing the headlines with 40 and Adam Dobb 31.

The three remaining games all produced winning results; Radcliffe lost to West Indian Cavaliers at Birchover Park by 7 wickets. Batting first, Radcliffe were skittled out for just 143 with Luc Durandt's 56 being the only highlight. For the Cavaliers, veteran Orson Nurse grabbed 3 wickets for 37 runs in support of Alex Tudor's 4-27. Cavaliers knocked off the modest total in just 27.4 overs with Andy Haye (31*) and Aaron Thomas (33*) seeing out the game.

The closest game of the day took place at Kimberley narrowly defeated the Notts Academy by 4 wickets with just 3 balls remaining; the Academy will have been disappointed to have finished on 235 for 9 on this high-scoring ground. Sam Kelsall was the key contributor with 73 supported by Jake Ball (33) and Adam Tillcock (35*). Kimberley's leading bowlers were Samit Patel (3-47) and George Bacon (3-84). The home side chased down the total for the loss 6 wickets with Jon Terry starring with 109 from 131 balls supported by Jarred Sewell and Alex Robinson with 48 and 36 respectively. Brett Hutton was the best Academy bowler with 4-36.

The day's final game took place at The Strand where bottom side Attenborough hosted the side above them Wollaton. Attenborough batted first and closed on 164 for 9 with kiwi Shaun Fitzgibbon top-scoring with 41 and Phil Wells taking 3-42. Wollaton knocked off the runs with 15 overs to spare for the loss of just two wickets David Smith seeing the game through with 33 not out. Wollaton remain in eleventh position but Attenborough's plight is now looking doomed without a dramatic turnaround in results.