Clumber side rout Anston

Anston III 72 all out

Clumber Park II 76 for 0

Clumber Park’s seconds picked up a comprehensive 10-wicket whitewash of Anston III on Saturday.

The visitors’ new ball pair of Tom Rix and Callum Rutherford had the hosts jumping around and before long the breakthrough was made after a spitting ball fromRix (1 for 6) took the top edge of Anston opener Paul Carter.

The carnage continued as both openers bowled a consistent line and length which caused wickets to fall at regular intervals and in turn the scoreboard had more wickets on it than runs posted early on.

The miserly and mature Smith and Dean were soon introduced into the attack after a fine opening burst from the youngsters but this changed Anston’s fortune very little as the hosts continued to struggle against accurate bowling on the variable pitch.

With the wickets tumbling and the scoreboard almost static it was time for a counter attack from Anston’s Curtis Silkstone who used attack more often than defence in an agricultural innings which was ably assisted by the resolute Georgina Marsh.

Smith finished his spell with figures of (2 for 19) and Dean not long after with figures of (3 for 15).

Clumber opener Rutherford (3 for 16) had seen enough of this late assault and returned to comprehensively bowl Silkstone for a gusty 34.

Anston posted a well below par 72 all out.

With the forecasted rain due to arrive during the early evening, the plan was to be aggressive towards getting the much needed win and this proved to work perfectly as Clumber made a flying start to their innings.

Both the masterful stroke play of James Delaney and the diligent shot making of Matthew Wheatley made light work of the bowlers.

Delaney was in fine form all around the wicket as he rocketed towards the target in a chanceless 39 not out.

Wheatley meanwhile was watchful in creating a perfectly paced and confident innings of 19 not out.

Clumber reached the target in merely 11.3 overs without loss and made the pitch look like the new A57 tarmac.

In doing so the pair took Clumber towards the full 20 points.

Division Five

Whitwell II 208 for 7

Mansfield & P 207 all out

Another warm day saw another 400-plus runs scored at the Rookery.

Whitwell elected to bat first and got off to a flier with Sadler (25) and Jessop (20) setting the tone.

This was followed up by Whiting (44) and Forrest (57*) as Whitwell forced home the advantage of batting first.

A fluent nine from Ramsdale helped Whitwell reach a very competitive 208 for 7 after 46.

The early breakthrough saw Jessop and Ramsdale remove both openers, before an nicely timed innings from Jenkins (47) restored hope for Mansfield and Pleasley, before Palmer had him caught behind.

Captain Spencer (62) and Walker (41) got together and made sure the visitors were always above the run rate, meaning Whitwell’s only chance of winning was to bowl them out.

The game changed when Spencer was caught and bowled.

Then With the thunder rumbling in the back ground and the skies darkening, Sadler started to warm up suggesting he thought he should be on at the bottom end, so was eventually given his chance to shine.

Ramsdale came back for his last three and removed R. Coupe with a bit of help from Jessop.

Danger man Walker tried rushing matters and was first to be bowled.

Then an LBW and a catch from M. Forrest made it a very very tight last couple of overs.

L. Coupe tried hard with 19 before Sadler (4 for 29) crept on up on him and removed middle stump, meaning Whitwell’s never say die attitude had once again won them 20 points.

Division One

Blidworth 234 for 8

Whitwell 104 for 7 (Rain)

The rain came down in the late evening to prevent a conclusion to this game.

Whitwell opted to bowl first and put in a good effort in the field, despite a number of spilled chances which could have reduced the Blidworth score.

Wilcock (61) provided a good platform for the home team before being dismissed by 15-year-old right arm fast bowler Evans on his first team debut, one of two victims in his creditable 2 for 30.

Westerby was the pick of the Whitwell bowlers with 3 for 43 at the tail end of the Blidworth innings, a great effort on an unresponsive track.

In reply Whitwell got off to a quick start against some fast but wayward bowling, and at 63 for 2 looked on top when the first rain of the day came down.

The rain spiced up the pitch and on returning former Whitwell player Robinson (3 for 33) was able to make the most of the now bowler friendly conditions to strike some blows to the middle order.

With Whitwell in a spot of bother the heavens opens and with conditions unplayable the umpires had no alternative to call the game off.

So the match ended in a weather draw, a result both sides can take positives from.