Collingham take over at the top of 1A
by Dennis Wright, 8th June 2002

Last week's joint leaders, Collingham, take over at the top of the league this week thanks to a comfortable victory over fourth placed Attenborough by 7 wickets. Star performer for the leaders was Jimmy O'Conner who returned figures of 6 for 61.

Eastwood Town, meanwhile, who shared top spot coming into Saturday's games, were no match for Gotham. The home side, who have only won one game so far this season, were on the verge of a shock victory. It was only Eastwood's overseas Ali Razza who stopped them with a knock of 63 and 4 for 66.

Another fine all-round performance from Balderton's Malinda Warnapura saw them comfortably beat a strong Plumtree side by 3 wickets. Warnapura scored 64 runs and took 5 for 30. Balderton seem to be getting their act together now and are steadily climbing the table following a poor start. Plumtree, on the other hand, seem to be in freefall and will need some improvement if they aren't going to slip towards the relegation zone.

Highest score of the day went to Gedling Colliery who amassed 228 for 6 against Hucknall. David Mason top scored with 66. This was all in vain, however, as the visitors couldn't prise out the last Hucknall pair.

In the other match in Division 1A, Notts Amateurs comfortably beat a poor Radcliffe-on-Trent side who could muster only 95 in reply to the Amateurs 139 for 8. Nadeem Akhater top scored for the home team with 53 whilst Peter Hacker returned 6 for 34.

In 1B, Ellerslie beat Belvoir, Calverton beat Long Eaton and Nottingham beat Bramcote. Best performance in this division went to Nottingham's Manawar Sultan who hit a fine 92. Ellerslie's Imran Adeal was best with the ball returning figures of 6 for 47.

In 1C, Rolls Royce Leisure skittled Old Paviors for just 26 in reply to the home side's 199 for 7. Graeme Wright top scored for Royces with 74. There were wins also for Flowserve, Lady Bay Boots, Bottesford and West Bridgfordians.

Hat tricks were reported in two games. James Fletcher performed the feat for Wilsons in their victory over Nuthall in 1D and Paul Wilson emulated him for Woodborough in 1G. Best bowling performance of the day, however, must be Darren Gelder's 8 for 12 for Stapleford who skittled Gladstone for just 19 to record a 68 run victroy.

Of the batsmen, top score reported was Mark Vellacott's 121 for Long Whatton, whilst Awsworth's Martin Yar scored a fine unbeaten 101 in their 126 run victory over Toton Sycamore.