DIVISION TWO
Lea Park 175 for 9
Clumber Park 177 for 4

Following defeat the previous week Clumber knew the importance of victory against fellow promotion hopefuls.

But on asking Lea Park to bat first the visitors found the going tough as the ball flew to all parts against a side that had seemingly gone to bed reading The Agricultural Times the night before.

With the batsmen chancing their arm the score raced to 60 for 1 before a 10 over spell from Gaz Beard conceeded a mere nine runs and slammed the brakes on the innings.

At 138 for 3 with 10 overs remaining the home side were still on top though, poised for a big total.

However, the Clumber bowlers showed more grit than a Noddy Holder chorus as Simon Dean (3-48) led the fightback to contain Lea Park to 175 for 9 at the close with Chris Ward (2-30) and Chris Rix (2-40) also among the wickets.

Chasing 176 for victory was always going to be a tough ask for the visitors and two early wickets saw them slump to 25 for 2.

The ship was steadied, though, by a crucial 76-run stand between Gaz Beard and Chris Ward (27).

When the latter departed the hosts could have felt they were back in the game, but any such notions were short lived as Beard unleashed a devastating assault.

He crashed seven sixes into the nearby woods, squirrels and fielders alike scurrying for their hardhats.

With able support from Mike Cox (9*) the imperious Beard eased Clumber towards a fine victory.

With the score on 171 and a century in sight he won the game in fine style with another huge six, unaware he was to leave himself marooned on a memorable 99 not out.

His runs came from just 84 balls as Clumber returned to winning ways and cemented their place at the pinnacle of Division Two.

DIVISION ONE
Ransome & Marles 298-2
Whitwell 202-6

WHITWELL learned a harsh lesson after putting Ransome into bat, on what turned out to be a superb batting track.

Openers Sellars (106) and Davies (155) took the wayward bowling attack apart.

Some chances were missed in the field but a sense of inevitability soon took over the shambolic fielding side.

Whitwell found the pitch equally to their liking and cruised to 202-5 although disappointingly no batsman went on to a 50 and although an unlikely victory was possible until the 35th over, the truth of the performance was that six points was all that the visiting side deserved.