NPL round-up: Struggling Farnsfield hold on for draw with leaders

The home side won the toss and chose to bat, but would have been disappointed to find themselves three down inside the first five overs.

Man of the moment Mat Dowman came and went with the score on 54-4.

It took a fine counter-attacking partnership of 162 between Andrew Staszkiewicz (64) and Josh Mierkalns, who fell seven runs short of a deserved century, to steady the ship.

Jamie Wagstaff was able to complete a hard earned five wicket haul (5-43) as the Caythorpe innings ended on 262-9.

Farnsfield made a similar start to Caythorpe, but were not able to find a partnership to really keep them in the game.

Callum McKenzie made 31 and Brett Hutton battled to 51, but with James Hemmings claiming 3-42 and James Hindson 3-29 from his 15 overs, it was left to the ninth wicket pair of Charles Wilson and Jamie Wagstaff to face a combined 77 balls, with just five scoring shots, to secure the draw for the visitors.

It wasn’t quite enough to lift them out of the bottom two, but it did close the gap.

Cuckney moved into second spot in the table, four points behind Caythorpe after they earned the better of a drawn match with the West Indian Cavaliers.

Cavs won the toss and after reducing their hosts to 48-4 will have felt justified.

Adam Burgess (74) and Daniel Wood (66) then combined to add 112 for the fifth wicket and with Kashyap Sureah adding 30, Cuckney were able to push their final tally up to 228-8.

Kafeel Shafique, with 3-40, and Corey Collymore (3-56) shared the bowling honours.

Cavaliers have struggled with the bat so far this season and at 99-5 it looked like a case of déjà vu, Akil Patel’s 35 the only score of note amongst the top five.

Bilal Shafayat (37) and Dominic Williamson steadied the ship with a 55-run partnership, but it was left to Williamson, finishing unbeaten on 52, to marshal the tail through to the draw, the innings closing on 209-9, Lewis Bramley’s 4-47 proving to be not quite enough.

Clifton Village moved into third with a six wicket win at Ordsall Bridon.

After asking their hosts to bat, the Villagers had to watch as Joshua Marsh and Martyn Long (44) compiled a 69-run stand to have Bridon well placed at 71-1.

Martin Weightman then took over, reducing the innings to 126-8 as he claimed 6-49 from his 15 overs, Ordsall eventually dismissed in the 39th over for 166.

Clifton lost four wickets at regular intervals during their reply, but never looked in any real danger. Weightman’s day was completed with an unbeaten 60 and an unbroken stand of 54 to secure the win.

Welbeck started the day in second and made the trip to Kimberley Institute in good spirits.

The home side won the toss and invited their guests to bat.

At 103-1 it looked good for Welbeck to push on to a big total.

Dominic Brown broke up the 55-run second wicket partnership, and proceeded to remove a further three for just 19 runs.

By the time Matthew Higgins fell for a fine 81, Welbeck were 157-6.

The tail wagged to get the score up to 193-8 from the 50 overs, Brown ending with figures of 15 overs, one maiden, six for 50.

Kimberley’s reply was book-ended by a pair of 50-run stands.

Sam Johnson (32) put on 86 with Shaun Levy for the opening wicket.

Levy was fifth out, having made 64, leaving George Bacon and Alex King to add the final 53 runs. Jonathan Ball snaffled 3-43 to no avail.

Along with Kimberley, Plumtree are rapidly climbing the league having found something akin to last season’s form. They enjoyed a second big win of the weekend, this time by 181 runs over Attenborough at the PCG.

At the Notts Sports Club, Notts Academy made 247-5 before Radcliffe-on-Trent comfortably held out for a draw on 172-8.

On Saturday, the fifth round of fixtures produced some big winning margins and a number of outstanding individual performances.

Caythorpe took sole possession of top spot after a stunning 145-run win over West Indian Cavaliers at Birchover Park.

Welbeck enjoyed a seven wicket rout of the Notts Academy at the John Fretwell Centre.

Welbeck won the toss and had the visitors bat, reducing the county juniors to 42-8.

Only Paul Franks, with 22, put up any kind of resistance as the innings ended 94 all out in the 36th over.

Tom Lungley, with 3-32, and Robert French, with a fine 5-40, broke the back of the innings up front.

Welbeck took their time to reach the target, but were never in any real danger. Matthew Higgins made a patient 25 to top score as they secured the points in the 35th over.

Champions Cuckney also enjoyed a straightforward win over a Radcliffe-on-Trent side bolstered by a first appearance for Steven Mullaney.

The hosts won the toss and invited Cuckney to bat. The opening stand was exactly 100 when James Hawley (35) was the first to fall, partner Luke Thomas following soon after for 45.

Of the remaining batters, only Daniel Wood (37 not out) and Richard Bostock (21) made it to double figures as the bowlers held sway, Cuckney closing on 194-9, Mullaney marking his debut with 3-30 to back up David Lucas’ 3-54.

The run chase fizzled before it started. Jake Fish top-scored with 27 and the highest partnership was the 31 added by the last wicket pair, with 10 overs remaining when the last man fell with Radcliffe totalling just 88.

Clifton Village got the better of a drawn game at Farnsfield.

The Villagers won the toss and decided to bat first, Martin Weightman (43) combining with Greg Smith in an 89-run stand to take the score to 124-3.

Despite watching wickets fall at regular intervals all round him, Smith hung in to be eighth out, just three runs shy of a century, Clifton totalling 226-9 as Jamie Wagstaff (3-42) and Brett Hutton (3-54) led the Farnsfield bowlers.

The home side looked to be making a fist of the run chase, but when Matthew Sisson fell after a run-a-ball 65, the chase fell away, Aitizaz Khan claiming 4-48 as Farnsfield claimed a draw that wasn’t quite enough to prevent them falling into the bottom two.

Attenborough began the day in a share of top spot, but ended it in sixth after a crushing 228-run defeat at home to Kimberley Insitute.

Plumtree enjoyed an equally one-sided contest at the PCG as Ordsall Bridon came calling.

Bridon won the toss and put their hosts in. Ben Milnes (63) and Hassan Azad (86) combined in an 88-run second wicket stand, allowing the rest of the order to contribute without really dominating. Ben Storey hit a not out 39 from 26 balls to take the Plumtree total to 303-7.

Martyn Long did his best to stem the tide, taking 4-74.

Ordsall’s reply was the lowest score of the day, just two batters made double figures as Matt Milnes (3-32) provided the foil to Glen Read’s rapier, Read closing with figures of 10 overs, three maidens, 6-25 as Ordsall were all out inside 20 overs for just 68.