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Cricket: N-ice win for Park
GAZ Beard proved to be Clumber Park's Mr. Whippy on Saturday, serving up a match winning 99 in an innings topped with hundreds and thousands and a chocolate flake.
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.
MALLON TROPHY
Firbeck 102 all out
Whitwell 103 for 4
A DECENT effort from Whitwell in the field, with all the bowlers contributing and Sadler getting the remarkable figures of 3 for 1 as he wrapped up the tail.
With Firbeck restricted to a 102, Whitwell took few risks in getting the score with an over to go, Draycott (63) and Westerby (27) putting on 90 for the third wicket.
DIVISION FIVE
Clumber Park II 162 for 5
NW'tley w/ Leverton II 129 for 8
OLD friends and rivals met on Saturday at Clumber Park with the visit of North Wheatley & Leverton, and both sides in excellent form.
The home side won the toss and elected to make first use of the bat.
In the absence of Jim Delaney, John Maher opened the batting with Howard Tomlinson and the pair looked to capitalise on any width offered by old stager R. Hackney (2 for 36) and L. Walter (1 for 46) with the new ball.
Hackney struck in the ninth over removing Maher for a bright 18.
The Wheatley attack applied pressure, but Tomlinson was in obstinate mood and the run rate stayed at three an over.
R. Hampstead (13) despite some useful boundaries fell to a well judged catch by J. Brammer at square leg.
But contributions of 25 from D. Taylor and 20 from A. Smith in conjunction with the immovable Tomlinson pushed the score past 140, with the latter bringing up his 50.
Credit has to go to the Wheatley change bowlers, in particular ex-Clumber captain I. Tingle (1 for 29) and J. Butler (2 for 43).
Late hitting from A. Bellamy (8) added to the total and with C. Johnson (3) run out off the last ball the Clumber innings finished on 162 for 5, with Tomlinson carrying his bat for a well played 65 not out.
With the pitch starting to wear opening bowlers A. Smith and T. Snow extracted some early movement from the new ball.
Smith was first to strike, bowling N. Purkiss with the score on four.
This brought to the crease the in-form Doug Phin who joined opener N. Cleaver, a partnership that notched 150 against Milton.
But Cleaver (15) struggled against the nagging line of the Clumber bowlers with Smith finally getting his man with the score on 45 off 19 overs.
Spin was introduced for the first time in the game with A. Bellamy (0 for 26) looking to extract turn and bounce.
At the other end Smith continued to wheel away bowling wicket to wicket, and with the run rate starting to rise D. Phin (30) finally fell to a excellent catch from S. Connolly, giving Smith figures of 3 for 27 from a 13 over spell.
M. Saward (29) and M. Pring (15) held the last hopes for Wheatley but both fell in quick succession to T. Moore (1 for 15) and R. Hampstead (2 for 19) who also removed youngster J. Brammer.
Sensing victory T. Snow (2 for 34) was brought back into the attack, with the left arm seamer picking up a couple of quick wickets leaving the Wheatley outfit tottering at 110 for 8 from 42 overs.
But a rear guard action from I. Tingle (9*) and R. Hackney (6*) denied Clumber all 20 points.
DIVISION EIGHT
Clumber Park IV 140 for 7
Mansfield H Mills IV 109 all out
CLUMBER were put into bat on a damp, slow track which made run scoring difficult.
Matt Wheatley and debutant Chris Dykes put on 30 for the opening wicket before Wheatley fell for 12 in the 12th over.
When Mingham joined him in the pavilion two balls later Clumber were reduced to 30 for 2.
Another valuable captain's knock of 35 by Dave Shepherd helped steady the ship, allowing Dykes to score a well made 32 before falling to the bowling of Dobbs in the 22nd over.
Frances Pickersgill impressed again with 16 useful runs, with number eight Amy Dawson playing a magnificent innings, scoring 27, including two well struck boundaries to help the Clumber team reach 140 for 8 in 46 overs.
In reply the accuracy of the Clumber opening bowlers Bradbury and Woolford made scoring difficult for the home team.
When Woolford struck in the fourth over with his maiden wicket for the fourths, Mansfield knew they had an uphill struggle, a fact that was compounded when first change bowler Glover struck in his third over to see Mansfield HM struggling on 27 for 2 after 13 overs.
Another wicket from Woolford and two more from Glover saw the hosts on 58 for 6 at the halfway break.
The Mansfield HM captain Dobbs started putting bat to ball after the interval and his aggressive contribution of 44 started to positively change the match for the hosts.
Just as he looked like he was going to steal the victory away from the visitors the match was turned upside down when vice captain Tony Mingham came on for a devastating spell of spin in only 3.5 overs.
Dobbs was cleaned bowled as was the next man, who quickly followed his captain for a golden duck.
Mingham was denied his hat-trick but he got his revenge in his next over when he superbly caught and bowled the last man for two, Mansfield collapsing to 109 all out.
DIVISION FOUR
Woodsetts 97 all out
Mansfield and Pleasley II 100 for 3
WOODSETTS' good form hit a brick wall on Saturday away at Mansfield and Pleasley.
The captain lost the toss and was asked to have a bat.
Opener Jack Woodward entrenched himself at one end and batted doggedly for 81 deliveries, but wickets were falling with worrying regularity at the other end and as the skittling continued, only Divine intevention was going to prevent the inevitable.
When Woodward's vigil ended the only bright spot for 'Setts was a flourish of regal shots from Duke, who's 26 prevented total humiliation.
Ninety-seven was never going to be enough but the fighting spirit of Woodsetts shined through early as they had Mansfield and Pleasley 20 for 3, but Bateman (2 for 23) was the only bowler who managed to dislodge any of the batsman.
The other wicket to fall was a calamitous run out.
Antcliffe and Kilday saw things home, not without luck but comfortably enough, every one of the Woodsmen gave 100 per cent to the cause but were powerless to prevent the hosts sealing 20 points.
Roses 210 for 8
Whitwell II 186 for 9
AFTER losing the toss on a good pitch, Whitwell made an early breakthrough when Rose opener Sleight was bowled for five.
However, middle order resistance from Clay and Clay allowed the visitors to progress to maximum batting points, although a late fight back from Searston (6 for 49) saw Rose restricted to 210 for 8 from their allotted 46 overs.
In reply Whitwell started brightly. After openers Dennis and Sadler departed, Foster (57) batted fluently along with Anglesea (32) and Sayles (19) but after the skipper departed the lower order were left with no option than to bat out for time.
Bethell and Whiting gamely hung on in the end.
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Monday 28 May 2012
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