Bolsover blast Farnsfield!!!
by Paul Barker, 29th June 2003

Bolsover who have been at the foot of the table since the opening day of the season finally moved up one place when they convincingly beat Farnsfield by 85 runs at Villas Road on Saturday. In a proverbial run feast Bolsover amassed a staggering 290 for 3 with the sensational Pakistani import Tariq Rashid clocking up his fourth century of the season as he made a magnificent unbeaten 152.

It must have been music to Rashid’s ears as on the other three occasions he has reached three figures this season, his side had lost all of these matches, so this was a first this term for this ultra talented cricketer who was far from finished with this match as we shall see later.

Adding tremendous support to Rashid was Steve Wooley (35), Chris Cowley (40) and Matthew Griffiths (35 n.o.) as Bolsover reached the staggering total of 290 for 3 when their 50 overs expired as Farnsfield were left wilting from this powerful onslaught.

The target looked huge and so it turned out to be whilst Andy Edwards (30) and Phil Creswell (71 n.o.) who has returned from Mansfield Hosiery Mills both battled to good but vain effect. Steve Wooley (3 for 9) bowled brilliantly but so did the incredible Tariq Rashid who helped himself to 4 for 28 and left no doubt who was the man of the match.

Bolsover will now look forward with renewed confidence and this side will never lie down and die. Farnsfield must be heartily sick of the sight of them as Bolsover have only two positive results a straight win and a winning draw against one team this season and that happens to be Farnsfield! The old statement about a side having the ‘Indian sign’ on another is still well to the fore today.

Retford kept up the pressure at the top end of the table with a hard worked winning draw against Kiveton Park. Batting first on the league’s best wicket, Retford reached 246 for 6 with skipper Steve Musgrove making a quire superb 86 and Pascal Broadley (55) again getting them away to a huge start. Henderson Jordan lent great support with 43 before the fifty over mark was reached with Retford’s target looking a shade daunting to say the least.

However whilst the brilliant young Australian Matthew Williams was at the crease anything was possible and he reached a brilliant 85 before he was dismissed and Retford were mightily relieved to see the back of him. Jamie Radford added an unbeaten 34 and Paul Singleton took 3 for 39, as Kiveton closed on 202 for 8 after a very good effort to reach the huge target set.

Arnold are still in second position and won a low scoring match against Killamarsh by just three wickets. Batting first Killamarsh were well served by the consistent Sam Malpass who made 36 out of a disappointing 125 all out. The away side were rather annoyed that the wicket appeared to have been left uncovered throughout the downpour the previous day and Arnold had with veteran Rick Peacock in their ranks a bowler who was perfect to exploit a wet wicket and he duly obliged with the staggering figures of 8 for 32.

Killamarsh then responded very well and Arnold were thankful to Richard Bostock whose 40 runs quite definitely won them the match. They reached a rather wobbly 129 for 7 with Lee Bradbury claiming 3 for 25, but questions are still being asked why the pitch was left uncovered throughout the incessant rain on Friday.

Thoresby Colliery faced the might of Cutthorpe and batted along quite sedately to reach 184 for 6 when the fifty overs ran out. Paul Hughes top scored with a superb 75, but one got the impression that they were about 50 runs short of what was needed.

This theory proved to be correct as Cutthorpe lost seven wickets in reaching their target but the sterling work of Chris Marples (66) and Asadullah Butt (46) saw them home at 188 for 7 and another valuable 17 points in the locker. Ben Winslede took 3 for 65 and with better support might have caused more embarrassment, but it was not to be.

North Wheatley were another side who had they scored a few more runs might have pulled off a shock win. The accumulated an all out total of 159 against Mansfield Hosiery Mills with Dave Waller making a fine unbeaten 63 whilst Sri Lankan impost Asela Jayasinghe was the pick of the Hosiery Mills attack taking 3 for 40.

The same person Jayasinghe scored 34 as Hosiery Mills stuttered to victory at 160 for 7. North Wheatley paid dearly for some important dropped catches whilst skipper Jamie Bovill took 3 for 43 and deserved better than to end on the losing side.

Cuckney bounced back after their heavy defeat the previous week against Thoresby Colliery to claim a winning draw against Glapwell who have now sunk to the foot of the table. Steve Deeman (66), Aaron Thomas (61) and Gareth Price (33) all batted well as Cuckney reached an impressive 233 all out whilst Gary Saxby bagged 6 for 50 in a quite brilliant spell.

In reply Matthew Hall made an impressive 42 as Bilal Shafayet (3 for 35) and Andrew Jackman (3 for 24) made sure Glapwell got nowhere near the target set as they closed out on 118 for 7.

In Division 2 Edwinstowe continue to lead affairs and once again they completely overwhelmed their opponents by nine wickets. Pilsley were dismissed for just 104 with Ian Smith taking 3 for 22 in an excellent stint. In reply Australian Garth Brown literally destroyed the Pilsley attack scoring a brilliant unbeaten 77 as Edwinstowe reached 106 for 1 with a degree of comfortability about it.

Steve Blagg (5 for 32) and Paul Burton (3 for 30) completely wrecked Anston as Worksop moved menacingly into second place with a resounding eight wicket success over neighbours Anston who were shot out for just 83. This proved to be no contest as Jamil Hassan (29) top scored as Worksop easily reached 86 for 2 and a valuable maximum points haul.

The shock of the day was N.S.K.’s winning draw over Marshalls although as readers of this column will know we have been saying for weeks that the former needed watching after putting together a tremendous run of results after a poor start to the season. Batting first N.S.K. must have been disappointed in being bowled out for just 136 with only Nigel Murray (38) making any impact. Mark Davies (5 for 53) and Andy West (3 for 41) were the pick of the Marshalls bowing attack.

With James Deacon (46) and Liam Andrews (30) both batting well the result looked inevitable until Peter Lambert began an incredible last over. Needing just three to win and five wickets left Marshalls failed by one run and lost a further three wickets into the bargain as they finished on 135 for 8. At the end of the season when all the facts are added up if Marshalls just fail to make promotion they will look back at this match in horror and see how they managed to snatch a losing draw from the jaws of certain victory!

How they managed it, only they will know and N.S.K. must have thought that someone was smiling on them to have landed a result like this. Peter Lambert finished with the impressive figures of 5 for 34 and will look back on this game with many fond memories in the future.

Whitwell who are suffering at the moment went down to another costly defeat against the inconsistent Eckington. Batting first Whitwell reached 164 for 8 with Michael Alexander making an impressive 52 and skipper Ian Dennis 35. Tom Dawson bowled magnificently for Eckington in an unchanged spell which yielded the excellent and deserved figures of 5 for 72.

In reply Eckington lost only three wickets before reaching the desired target with 167 for 3. Mark Bridgman (57) top scored but everyone played their part in a thoroughly professional performance by Eckington.

Biwater Clay Cross went down to a heavy six wicket defeat by a sparkling Ashover side who clicked on all cylinders. Batting first Biwater made 187 for 8 with Steve Cracknell making a superb 48 and skipper Martin Leatherday adding 44 valuable runs. Roger Bolstridge was the best of the Ashover attack taking 4 for 93.

The target proved no problem to Ashover as Russell Cooke made an elegant 70 and Andy Walker a superb unbeaten 73 to take them to an impressive and much needed win.

Talking of much needed wins Everton were in desperate need of one and they gained it by beating fellow strugglers Blyth who now swap places with them at the foot of the table. Batting first Everton were far from impressive on an inconsistent wicket making 135 for 9 when the overs ran out. Andy Barthorpe with 3 for 39 and John Smith (3 for 33) must have thought they had done a good job, only to find out it was inadequate.

Batting second Blyth completely collapsed to 92 all out with John Shaw (3 for 27) and Robert Peck (3 for 11) doing the business in good style as Everton picked up a very much needed 20 points.