Cuckney title hopes rocked by defeat ahead of huge showdown
Cuckney's Nottinghamshire Premier League title hopes were rocked by a 14 run defeat away at Notts & Arnold Amateur on Saturday.
At the same time, reigning champions and leaders Cavaliers & Carrington were beating Attenborough.
That set up a huge game at Cuckney this Saturday as Cavaliers visit for a game that could go a long way to deciding the title.
Put into bat, the home side made 228 all out with Zahid Mansoor hitting 109 with 11 fours and two sixes.
Rishan Herath also made 64, with six fours and two sixes.
They had struggled on 35-4 but Mansoor and Herath added 138 for the fifth wicket to help them towards a decent total.
Yuvraj Singh claimed 3-32 from his 10 overs.
Cuckney also laboured early on and were 32-4.
Nick Langford took control with his unbeaten 90 and Adam Tillcock backed him well with 62, the duo adding 121 for the fifth wicket.
They went into the final over with two wickets left and 20 runs still needed to win.
They added five off the first three balls before Jordan Sergeant removed the final two wickets to secure the win.
“It was disappointing to lose – we probably allowed them to get too many runs, “ said Cuckney vice captain Tom Ullyott.
“Anything over 200 there is a tricky chase as it's a big field and it was a windy day.
“We just didn't quite manage to get there with the bat, despite good innings from Nick and Adam.
“Kimberley behind us lost as well so it is thinning out a bit up there, but Cavs won, so it's up to us to try to put things right when we play them this weekend.
“It is not a must-win game in the sense that if you lose it you are done. And we do have 10 games left and Cavs could lose a couple of their games still.
“But if we don't win it then it's out of our hands and you are relying on other sides to do you favours – which rarely happens.
“We need to win on Saturday to make sure we feel like we still have a bit of leverage in the race.”
Relegation-threatened Welbeck produced a much-needed six wicket win away at Hucknall to hoist themselves off bottom spot.
Hucknall chose to bat first and made 207-7 in their 50 overs.
Daniel Blatherwick hit 47 and George Blatherwick added 33 not out and Connor Ramm 35 not out, Richie Bentley taking 3-28.
Welbeck made an awful start to their reply, losing both openers with a single run on the board.
But they rallied as Jean Du Plessis made a decisive 103 not out, including eight fours and two sixes and put on 81 for the third wicket with Mat Roberts.
He then combined with Josh Sanderson (40 not out) to add another 95 for the fifth wicket as they reached 208-4 in 44.4 overs.
Second bottom Welbeck host bottom club Papplewick & Linby this Saturday in a hugely important clash.
“We really needed that win - and it is never easy away at Hucknall at any time, “ said Welbeck head coach Richard Stroh.
“I thought we bowled well and looked set to keep them to about 180 until a late partnership took them over the 200-mark.
“But we were still quite happy and, after not the best start, our South African player Jean Du Plessis made us a magnificent century. He and Mat steadied the ship a bit, then Josh, who is only 20, saw us home.
“This Saturday is a big game, but to be honest every game will be like a cup final between now and the end of the season.
“We are second bottom and there is a bit of a gap to the teams above us. All we can control is our own performances and try to keep on winning games.”
In the Division Two local derby, Mansfield Hosiery Mills decisively won by 113 runs away at Cuckney seconds and are up to second in the table as they chase a return to the top flight.
The Millers chose to bat first and made 227 all out.
Jacob Catling struck 48, Yesith Rupasinghe 32, and Adam Dobb 26 with Josh Porter picking up a superb 5-38 from his nine overs.
Catling and Rupasinghe put on 83 for the fifth wicket.
Cuckney, in reply, lost early wickets and only James Hawley was able to stick around with his 43.
The last five wickets tumbled for 31 runs as Kamel Manek took 4-13 off just 4.1 overs, Dobb, Dan Harris and Rupasimnghe all taking a pair of wickets apiece.
Cuckney seconds are at Cavaliers seconds this weekend with Hosiery Mills at home to Gedling & Sherwood.
In the Bassetlaw & District League Championship, bottom-placed Clumber Park went down by nine wickets at home to Papplewick & Linby seconds.
Choosing to bat, Clumber were bowled out for 138 in 44.5 overs.
Glyn M. Coxhill scored 25, but they soon crumbled to 52-7, before two late partnerships of 31 by Hayden Cox and Michael Edwards for the eighth wicket and then Edwards and Oscar Bone's 46 for the ninth wicket gave them something to defend.
Bone was 35 not out, Edwards hit 25 and Cox 18 while Daniel Cole claimed 5-23 and Jim Rhodes 3-17.
Papplewick made light work of their chase, reaching 142-1 in 22.3 overs.
Ayush Verma was out for 57, but Joe Walker (67 not out) and Sam Watson (15 not out) saw them home.
Clumber head for Kiveton Park Colliery this Saturday.
Worksop beat struggling Farnsfield seconds by seven wickets in Division One.
Put into bat, bottom club Farnsfield were dismissed for 135, Ashley Langdale taking 3-23.
Third-placed Worksop reached 137-3 in 34.4 overs, openers Jake Hogan (34) and Alex Kirkham (47) putting on 51 and Conor Smith 22 not out.
Worksop are away at second-bottom Milton this weekend.