South Notts Cricket League Summary 2004
by Dennis Wright, 10th November 2004

Another successful season for the South Nottinghamshire Cricket League is summarised by Dennis Wright. The league's press secretary has scoured his weekly reports to present his highlights of the 2004 season.

1st May 2004

Dejected cricketers were in abundance this opening weekend as the cricket season got underway with 22 games unable to take place due to wet or unfit pitches. There were mainly low scores with 17 teams chasing or defending totals of less than a 100. But it was not all one sided to the bowlers as Chris Briggs (151*), Chris King (129) & Andrew Rattray (114*) notched match winning centuries. With the advent of one-stream cricket there is added interest in 1st XI versus 2nd XI clashes, the firsts came out top this week winning 10 matches.

8th May 2004

Misery as South Notts cricket was washed away by heavy rain that hit the area on Friday evening and Saturday morning. Only 6 of 75 games were started.

15th May 2004

There were nine wickets apiece for Andy Tadd (9/22) of Ravenshead and Ben Tebbutt (9/28) of Nottingham; their performances were the 4th and 5th best in the League’s history. On the batting front, the return of Shiraz Khalid sees him carrying on for Rainworth as he left off last season, hitting 190.

22nd May 2004

A weekend of high drama saw two firsts for the Gunn & Moore SNCL. In Division J, Stapleford’s Mick Bowen was “timed out”, the first ever in the league; while in Division A, Radcliffe-on-Trent were awarded 5 penalty runs when the umpires deemed Long Eaton had tampered with the ball.

29th May 2004

Plumtree moved to the top of the table as they gained a winning draw from their encounter with Loughborough Carillon.

12th June 2004

A new league record as Shiraz Khalid took back the highest individual score when he hit an unbeaten 236 in 45 overs at home to Stapleford. Thrumpton’s ex Notts star Andy Pick took his second hat-trick of the season, whilst in the same game 12 year old Adam Sheppard of Radcliffe II took 3 wickets in 4 balls.

19th June 2004

For the second week running a league record has fallen. Umair Hassan, the overseas professional for Long Eaton, became the first player in the league’s history to take all 10 wickets in a match. The previous record by Simon Clarke of Belvoir II was 9 wickets for 5 runs and seemed set in stone but less than 5 cricketing months later it is replaced by Umair’s impressive performance.

At home to Newstead Abbey & Village, Long Eaton had only managed 146/7 in their allotted overs; a total that Newstead felt they could achieve: that was until Hassan got into the action. Two early wickets fell before a devastating spell from the Pakistani right arm fast bowler depleted the heart of Newstead’s challenge. An amazing low diving catch by wicket-keeper Craig Langton ended the stubborn resistance of a third Newstead batsman. Next ball an LBW and then a hat-trick ball saw a leg stump yorker take the stump clean out of the ground. Umair was not finished as his fourth ball again brought favour from the umpire as the player was trapped in front of his stumps.

All through this Andy Edge had toiled away wicketless as the stooge to Hassan’s polish but stand-in skipper Alan Villiers acknowledged how important his contribution to the side has been. As Hassan rolled through the Newstead line up, the required run rate was never that great so an upset was always possible. It was near the end that history could have taken a turn as Villiers took ball in hand and saw a chance dropped at slip by Russell Elliott. Hassan had already collected 9 wickets and when he ran in next over he again uprooted the leg stump to record the fantastic achievement of 10 wickets in a match.

3rd July 2004

Plumtree cemented their position at the top of the League with their second winning draw of the season over second place Gedling Colliery.

10th July 2004

Plumtree continued to dominate the top Division and seem unstoppable as they climb towards the Premier league, with more than half the fixtures completed. They registered a fifth win away at Eastwood and boast an incredible 4 point average gap over their nearest rivals. All three Plumtree sides now occupy top spot in their divisions.

Another dominating performance came in Division P where bottom club West Bridgford Legion II won their first game of the season against fellow strugglers Radcliffe on Trent III. Jamie McGilp featured for the first time ever in the league’s top performances when he hit a staggering 186*. Richard Adams 8/22 was the top bowling performance as Kimberley II beat Nuthall.

17th July 2004

Bowlers dominated the weekend fixtures as two of the three unbeaten sides lost that record. Plumtree were defeated by Long Eaton, in EF Gedling Colliery II suffered a shock home defeat to Long Eaton II, whilst Plumtree III rolled on at the top of Division P with their tenth successive victory. An air ambulance was needed in the Caunton v Woodborough game as Caunton skipper Phil Warriner took any hopes of growing a moustache away when he top edged a ball from spinner Steve Derry in to his face. A hospital trip by helicopter to ascertain he has a broken gum and lips that look like a collagen nightmare, but the skipper is at home and looking to invest in a helmet.

24th July 2004

The second highest individual league score was plundered by Chris Wright of Lowdham, who hit a staggering 231* at home to Gotham Village. With Jim Blacknell (66) they put on 214 for the first wicket. Although Wright missed out on the overall record, Ellerslie II managed to hit the biggest team score of 398/5 with Richard Renwick hitting 198, the team scored at a massive 8.8 runs an over. Another Ellerslie player in the runs was Sam Catsharma who hit 162.

The most amazing finish in the league’s history came in the C/D clash between Kimberley Institute (167/9) and Attenborough II (166/9). Attenborough had moved to within 7 runs of victory with an over to go. With 5 runs off the first 3 balls of Steve Bennett’s over, Kimberley must have felt all was lost, but then came three wicket taking balls as the pressure proved too much for Attenborough as they crumbled to an amazing hat-trick.

31st July 2004

Title contenders Long Eaton crashed to 30 all out away at Balderton. Overseas professional Indigah Gallage took a staggering 8 wickets for 1 run as Balderton (31/0) won by 10 wickets. The day’s most sporting play award goes to Kimberley III’s captain Stephen Tilley, who loaned Gedling Sherwood three players after their keeper and fielder collided chasing a skied delivery from the No.9 batsman. Whilst these players were rushed to hospital by a third Gedling player, Tilley sent on his own keeper and two fielders to play for the opposition in the remaining 7 overs of the innings. Kimberley were rewarded with victory to keep up their promotion hopes but Tilley missed out on a century as he fell on 94, caught by his own keeper. Lambley II reduced Ruddington II to the day’s lowest score of 21 with Greg Davies 6/4, all this after Mick Shaw hit 101.

14th August 2004

Kinoulton and Stanton by Dale II fought a nail-biting relegation battle in GH. Stanton batted first and scored 145/7 with Simon Welch 48. In-form batsman Steve Harling (62) took Kinoulton to within a whisker of victory and with the final two overs to go, they needed just two runs for victory with 4 wickets in hand. Stanton held their nerve with Simon Taylor returning match figures of 5/9 as Kinoulton slumped to 144 all out.

21st August 2004

Plumtree slumped to a dramatic 10 wicket defeat away at relegated Radcliffe on Trent to throw wide open the Championship. Alasdair Culpin returned a personal best of 9/14 as Bottesford (93/0) dented Gedling Sherwood’s (72) promotion hopes in Division B.

28th August 2004

Pre-season favourites Gedling Colliery produced a premier performance to snatch the title from Plumtree who could not deliver in the final few games as pressure mounted. Jeff Burton produced the fifth best bowling performance of the season taking 9/35 as Rolls Royce Leisure where blown away by Gedling’s remorseless fight for the win they needed to stand any chance of the title.

Still, it may not have been good enough as Plumtree needed a maximum 18 points in a winning draw or better to win the title that had been theirs for most of the season. But as pressure and allegations mounted they started to show chinks as points were dropped in draws and losses over the final games. Plumtree batting first racked up 207/8 to claim maximum batting points, so it was then down to the bowlers to deliver the 9 wickets or absolute victory they required. Balderton then stepped in to spoil the home team’s party as they superbly played out a winning draw finishing on 153/3 to finish off Plumtree’s hopes.

4th September 2004

A shortened programme saw a staggering 7 centuries in only 27 games. The most crucial centurion was Phil Garner whose 101* helped Plumtree III to beat Snibston Grange II securing their record breaking 16th win of the season to become the first team ever to complete a full season’s fixtures undefeated.

Plumtree Cricket Club have had the most successful season in the league’s history, losing only 5 out of 55 games.