Cutthorpe tighten grip at top
by Paul Barker, 23rd May 2004

After hitting the summit last Sunday, Cutthorpe showed no desire to relinquish their position with a smooth eight wicket mauling of Bridon. Batting first Bridon applied themselves rather creditably making 176 for 9 with skipper Simon Fenwick scoring a good 41 and Matt Makings an excellent 49. As usual Asadullah Butt was at the thick of the action taking 3 for 51 in an immaculate tidy spell.

Whilst this target may have deterred some teams it proved no problem whatsoever to Cutthorpe who cruised to victory with Chris Marples in his usual cavalier style smashing a glorious unbeaten 103 and Asadullah Butt weighing in with 31 n.o.

Cutthorpe are certainly in prime form at the moment and the way they are playing it will take a super human effort to beat them. Next weekends round of matches which sees them up against Notts. & Arnold Amateurs on Saturday and second place Kiveton Park on Bank Holiday Monday will go a long way towards telling us where the title will end up.

Bridon can count themselves unlucky to have come up against a side in this type of form and their performance would have been good enough against several other sides but not Cutthorpe.

Kiveton Park continue to blaze a trail in second place and but for a last wicket partnership would have beaten Bolsover and took a third consecutive maximum. A brilliant 111 by Australian star Ryan Snape set Kiveton up for a massive 279 for 5 which was further swelled by Lee Brooks with a superb 83 and skipper Rob Coxon (36). Tariq Rashid bore the brunt of the Bolsover attack and did it very well taking 4 for 95 in an excellent spell trying to stop the onslaught.

In reply Bolsover were never in the picture and some dogged defence saw them claim a losing draw on 140 for 9. Chris Cowley (60) batted superbly whilst young Kyle McKeeman showed a maturity which belied his years taking 3 for 16 in an excellent spell of bowling.

Notts. & Arnold Amateurs also remain unbeaten but were pushed all the way by a gritty Worksop side who probably deserved more than to lose by two wickets at Goosedale Lane . Batting first Worksop were bowled out for just 161 with Richard Grainger making a superb 72. Had he had more support the result may well have been very different but Ian Flood (6 for 37) and Justin Foss (3 for 32) made sure that the rest of the batting didn’t get acquainted with the wicket for too long.

Arnold struggled all the way to reach their goal with Paul Burton (3 for 47) and Simon Robson (3 for 33) keeping them under constant pressure. Nobody could master the conditions and had it not been for Peter Evans and Don Leiper plus a host of dropped catches, Worksop would surely have pulled off the surprise of the day.

Another tight encounter took place at Park Avenue with Mansfield Hosiery Mills just getting the better of Glapwell in an enthralling encounter. Batting first Hosiery Mills were reliant on Tom New (55) as wickets fell steadily and with only just over 100 runs on the board and six wickets down another shock result looked possible.

However a fine stand between skipper Mark Langford and Asela Jayasinghe (32) took Hosiery Mills to a respectable 186 all out which was more than looked possible for a long while. Off spinner Mike Huckle bowled steadily for Glapwell taking 3 for 48 in a good spell.

Glapwell began confidently and Dean Graney and skipper Andy Smith built a match winning stand before the latter was bowled by Dave Loveridge with the delivery of the day. Despite a courageous and well disciplined 56 by Dean Graney and an unbeaten 22 by Anna Smith Glapwell finished 35 runs short on 151 for 7 at the close. Jason Gorman (3 for 33) was the pick of the Hosiery Mills attack in a game that swung both ways on numerous occasions.

Thoresby Colliery again piled on the runs and again lost a match from a good position. Batting first skipper Martin Cheshire scored a magnificent 89 to add to his incredible run of form this season as Thoresby piled up 198 for 5. Paul; Hughes added 36 whilst Kiwi Mark Silcock bowled extremely well to take 3 for 64 for opponents Farnsfield.

It is always difficult to guage what Farnsfield side would turn up but on this occasion it was a determined one and they strode to victory by four wickets on 201 for 6 with skipper Andy Edwards (49), David Bell (42) and Keith Miller (42 n.o.) all batting brilliantly to pull off a magnificent win.

Thoresby must wonder how many runs they need to score to win, and if their attack was as good as their batting they would surely be right up there with the front runners. By the same degree it would take a genius to fathom out how Farnsfield are going to play and before the end of the season they will throw a spanner into the works of one of the top teams when it is least expected.

Its hurrah for Edwinstowe who pulled off their first victory in Division 1 this season with a four wicket beating of Blidworth. Batting first Blidworth made a useful looking 184 all out with skipper Richard Price top scoring on 39. Ally Rhodes with 3 for 34 was the pick of the Edwinstowe attack.

In reply Edwinstowe were indebted to Australian Garth Brown (65) alongside skipper John Garnham (41 n.o.) and Neil Dunn (42 n.o.) as they cruised to victory. Edwinstowe showed that positive play can bring victories and if they can string together more displays like this the sky is the limit. Before this they had adopted a negative approach and had come unstuck, but this should encourage them and also show them that this is the only way to play cricket in this section.

Papplewick and Linby retain top place in Division 2 after a great win over Blyth at Papplewick Hall. Batting first Blyth made a daunting total of 216 for 8 with Geoff Chessman top scoring on 78 and New Zealander Adam Neylon making a well crafted 51. Steve Alford was once again in fine form with the ball for Papplewick taking 4 for 38 to add to his ever growing total of wickets.

In reply Papplewick had no problem knocking off this imposing target with Naylon Fookram making a fine 71 and Gareth Rusinowski (70) in a blistering response that saw them reach 220 for 3 and a seven wicket win to retain top position.

Marshalls featured a return to the bad old days of last season when they fell to a heavy five wicket defeat at home to relegated Killamarsh. Batting first the much vaunted Marshalls batting line-up failed dismally and were bowled out for just 142 runs with only Chris Needham (39) doing anything to steady the ship. Steve Ludlam (4 for 40) and Peter Allen (3 for 37) did most of the damage as Killamarsh never slackened their grip throughout the innings.

Peter Allen was again well to the fore when Killamarsh replied, scoring 36 more than useful runs and with the aid of a superb 51 from Julian Carlisle a score of 145 for 5 was achieved without too much trouble and a maximum points haul for their side.

The match of the day was at Eckington were a total 546 runs were shared between the home side and N.S.K. with only 13 wickets falling. Batting first Eckington made a massive 300 for 7 with Richard Bostock leading the way with a majestic 140 and superb support coming from Rob Carlisle with 79. Gary Lambert bowled extremely well despite this pounding taking 3 for 65 in an inspired spell.

Any thoughts Eckington might have had that this would be easy were quickly dispelled. Batting just as assuredly as the home side N.S.K. reached 254 for 6 when the close came to end a magnificent game on a wicket that was brilliantly prepared by groundsman Chris Drury.

Nigel Murray (59), Paul Litchfield (50) and Matthew Gwillim (51) all batted brilliantly for N.S.K. whilst Wayne Dye was the thorn in their side taking 3 for 59 for Eckington in a match that broke the record for aggregate runs scored in a Division 2 game.

At the other end of the scale a difficult wicket was on the menu at North Wheatley and this saw the home side and Pilsley struggle for runs before the former gained a winning draw for their efforts. Batting first North Wheatley with Leverton totalled just 148 for 8 in their 46 overs Wayne Ellis (50) and Richard Robinson (44) preventing a complete rout. Michael Thompson (5 for 67) and Dave Schofield (3 for 73) bowled unchanged throughout the innings and received just reward for their magnificent efforts.

This total looked easily possible and Pakistani star Said Bin Nasir began like an express train until being brilliantly caught by Dave Waller for 19. From that moment on an uphill struggle was the order of the day and Pilsley closed on 131 for 8 with Robert Hackney bowling superbly to take 4 for 27.

Whitwell appear to be on paper the equivalent of Farnsfield in Division 1 in terms of inconsistency. They almost beat leaders Papplewick in their first match and have seen off the challenge of Clay Cross Works and Pilsley with a shocking defeat against Blyth in between. They were at their infuriating worst on Saturday and were blasted out of sight by Anston. Batting first they were dismissed for just 138 with only Andy Shaw (30) making any impact at all. Anston skipper Ian Barley (3 for 39) bowled his usual impeccable line and length and received excellent support from Andrew Ruczenczyn with 3 for 47 in a great display of accurate bowling.

In reply Anston knocked off the required runs scoring 139 for 2 with ease. Dean Brearley (58), Kevin Vollans (43 n.o.) and Michael Norbury (32 n.o.) were the batsmen in form as Anston picked up a maximum.

Clay Cross Works came out on top for the first time this season with a thrilling last ball victory over Notts. & Arnold Amateurs 2 nd at Brassington Street . Notts. and Arnold took first knock and were indebted to Phil Allcock who made an excellent 56 whilst Ian Bettney, not for the first time this season, bowled superbly to take 4 for 82 as Notts. & Arnold closed out their overs on 173 for 7.

In reply Clay Cross finally got their batting prowess into gear and Kevin Walker (30), Ian Knowles (43) and Ian Sims (41) saw them home in dramatic circumstances. Greg Woods was the best of the Arnold attack taking a well merited 3 for 42.