Hosiery Mills win thriller
by Paul Barker, 5th May 2004

An absolute belter of a match at The Fieldings saw Mansfield Hosiery Mills retain their pace setting position at the top of the table on Bank Holiday Monday. It has been said on many occasions that ‘this match had everything’, believe me this really did.

Batting first Martin Cheshire and Nigel Burkitt got Thoresby away to an excellent start and when Burkitt was dismissed Paul Hughes provided Cheshire with the ideal partner as the scoreboard raced along. When Hughes was dismissed for a cultured 41, Cheshire carried on until he was bowled by Gorman for a magnificent 93 with shots all around the wicket. Steve Willis made some big hits towards the end and the final total of 226 for 7 represented a very good effort and gave Thoresby plenty of runs to bowl at. Dave Loveridge was the pick of the Hosiery Mills attack with 3 for 32 in two excellent spells.

Hosiery Mills made a steady start with Tom New and Dave Loveridge in command but the introduction of Peter Scott into the attack paid early dividends with the wicket of Loveridge.

New was next to follow being caught by David Evans off a stinging drive for a well made 57, with Scott again being the bowler and when Asela Jayasinghe became Scott’s third victim the writing looked to be on the wall for Hosiery Mills.

A bad mistake when Mark Langford was dropped on the boundary from a relatively easy catch off Evans was then to cost Thoresby dearly as the Hosiery Mills skipper and Jason Gorman then set about the Thoresby attack and the ten runs an over which was required suddenly began to look possible.

Langford in particular flamed a torrent of towering sixes over the fence and Thoresby lost their grip on the game for the first time and Hosiery Mills reached their target with two overs to spare when Langford reached the fence for the umpteenth time to record the victory. Langford finished on 68 n.o., and Gorman 43 n.o. and these pair certainly deserved all the plaudits for a wonderful run chase. Peter Scott took all three wickets at a cost of 78 runs, most of which came from his last two overs and really he didn’t deserve that, having bowled so well until the carnage at the end.

Cutthorpe have made an impact already and they clicked into gear again by beating Worksop with ridiculous ease at Central Avenue . Batting first Worksop were held together by a painstaking knock of 48 from Jamil Hassan whilst Asadullah Butt (3 for 29) and John McCollum (3 for 39) did the business for Cutthorpe as they limited Worksop to 146 for 8.

This target proved no threat to Cutthorpe and Karl Fields was in superb form with an undefeated 74 as they raced home with four wickets to spare.

Another side who have made a good start is Bridon and they continued their good work with a crushing four wicket win against Edwinstowe. Batting first Edwinstowe were fired out for just 80 with Colin Hurst 3 for 23 doing most of the damage.

Any thoughts that this might have been easy were quickly dispelled as Edwinstowe fired out six wickets with Sean Bullin leading the way with 4 for 12. However the target set was not enough and a cultured unbeaten 37 by Rob McLeod guided Bridon to victory after these early setbacks.

Glapwell were bowled out for just 91 by another big threat at the top, Notts. & Arnold Amateurs. Only skipper Andy Smith (48) made any headway against the tight Arnold attack in which Andy Rann (4 for 13) was the leading light.

Arnold lost only two wickets in acquiring this total and Martin Mitchell (33 n.o.) made sure their were no more mishaps as victory was achieved rather comfortably at 93 for 2.

Blidworth who have made an appalling start to the season roared to their first win against a hapless Bolsover side. Batting first Bolsover were dismissed for just 108 with only Chris Cowley (30) making any headway against Arron Pairama (3 for 28), Pete Wood (3 for 19) and Ritchie Gibbons (3 for 20)

Despite losing four wickets Blidworth coasted to victory with Kiwi Pairama enjoying a fine all round match with 41 superb runs.

In the final match of the programme Cuckney did extremely well to beat Farnsfield by five wickets. Farnsfield moved away to a terrific start with Paul Franks (56) and James Bennett (34) setting the pace but when these two were out the wheels fell off and they closed on a disappointing and dismal 139 for 7. Simon Shipp (5 for 20) and Paul Gurnell (2 for 47) bowled superbly to put their side in with a great chance.

Cuckney reached their target making 140 for five wickets lost with comparative ease. Australian David Newman batted well to reach 38 but the star of the show was Gareth Price with a brilliant unbeaten 63. Kiwi Mark Silcock (4 for 36) was the best of the Farnsfield attack but the target set gave him no room for manoeuvre and only one result looked likely from a long way out.