Lippeatt is the shining light
by Paul Barker, 22nd August 2005

One thing that makes cricket the great game that it is, is that every now and then a player who has served his side very well over many years finally gets the recognition he deserves after having the sort of the season that he would only normally dream about.

That is the case of Thoresby Colliery’s off spinner Billy Lippeatt who has served his team with distinction over more years than I care to remember. Bill has always been like a pocket ‘battleship’ urging his team mates on by his own efforts even when things looked impossible and although he has took a proverbial bag of wickets this season his performance against Worksop at Central Avenue probably topped the lot.

Thoresby looked anything but the league leaders that they were half way into the match, and were quickly in total disarray as Worksop got amongst the wickets early. Only one result looked possible as the Thoresby batting resembled a procession from and back to the pavilion in double quick time. Had it not been for a magnificent virtuoso performance from Steve Willis who scored 64 one dreads to think of the damage that would have been caused but even when he was out, the best was yet to come!

Willis was out at 101 for 9 and Worksop must have been thinking that their excellent form of late was a certainty to continue as Lippeatt marched to the crease to partner Shailesh Patel with the end in sight. Incredibly this pair added 112 in an unbroken stand with Patel making 68 n.o. and Lippeatt 26 n.o. as Thoresby amazingly raised their total to 213 for 9 in the 50 overs and this certainly put a whole new complexion on matters.

Ramesh Sanjay with 5 for 49 was the pick of a Worksop attack that rather lost its way towards the end of the innings, but that is probably taking away the credit that the tenth wicket pair richly deserved for their efforts for Thoresby, but Lippeatt’s day was far from over as he showed everyone when Worksop went out to bat.

Wickets fell at regular intervals and unlike Thoresby there was no way back for Worksop who buckled under the pressure and were soundly thrashed by 71 runs. Only Pete Jones with 30 showed the slightest form of resistance as Lippeatt (4 for 44) and Zimbabwean David Irvine (3 for 16) literally tore the heart out of their batting as they were dismissed for just 141.

It was a tremendous performance by the league leaders and it showed they are not going to give up their position lightly. Whilst they are in this form they are capable of going all the way, but it is still so tight as second placed Glapwell totally vanquished Bridon by six wickets at Ordsall to remain just one point behind.

Glapwell skipper Iain O’Brien had no hesitation inserting Bridon after he had won the toss and the move paid instant dividends when the skipper had Simon Fenwick trapped lbw in his very first over. Wickets continued to fall steadily and nobody with the possible exception of Craig Saxelby looked at easy against the varied and penetrative Glapwell attack.

Bridon were eventually bowled out for 131 with O’Brien taking 4 for 37 and Gary Saxby 3 for 24 and two overs were transferred over for Glapwell’s benefit. Any thoughts that this target would be easy however was quickly wiped out when in the fourth over of the innings with the score on 10, Matt Makings had a spell that most bowlers can only dream about.

In the space of that one over he dismissed Dean Graney, Matt. Hall and Nick Truswell without conceding a run and at 10 for 3, the target facing Glapwell began to look rather a long way away. Lee Topham and Asghar Mohammed never flinched from their duties however, but a fourth wicket fell that of Mohammed with the score on 48 to keep Bridon’s interest in the match at a premium.

From this point though, Topham ably partnered by Rob Davison completely took over and Glapwell suffered no more losses as they passed the Bridon score in the grand manner with a fiercely struck six into the works by Topham.

Topham never looked in too much trouble and made batting look reasonably easy with a splendid 56 n.o. and Davison also made his presence felt with an unbeaten 32. Matt Makings 3 for 36 was the best of the Bridon attack, but once Glapwell had come to terms with the situation only one result looked possible and it duly arrived with as many as twenty overs to spare.

Farnsfield and Edwinstowe are still waiting close by for the top two to slip up and are far from out of it and neither did their cases any harm as they picked up twenty and fifteen points respectively. Farnsfield totally annihilated Marshalls at Middlefield Lane in double quick time and had it not been for Paul Van den Heuvel (29) it could have been much worse as Marshalls were just blown away at 90 all out. Mark Silcock (3 for 18) and Mark Hallam (3 for 26) bowled superbly, but on the evidence of this the Gainsborough side are in real trouble near the bottom.

The target set was never going to be defendable and James Bennett (47 n.o.) and Paul Franks (34 n.o.) eased Fansfield to a massive nine wicket win with a warning to Thoresby and Glapwell which says ‘Don’t write us off yet’.

Edwinstowe only managed a winning draw against Kiveton Park in a match which could have gone either way. Asif Zakir (59) and Nigel Dunn (40 n.o.) were the principle run getters in a total of 171 for 9 whilst Dean Walker and Chris Storey bowled superbly taking 5 for 54 and 3 for 59 respectively for Kiveton.

The Kiveton batting has been prone to major collapses in recent weeks but this time they showed something like their true form and very nearly and possibly should have completed a victory. Australian Peter Coleborne led the way with 85 but some fine bowling by Asif Zakir (5 for 54) saw them finish just ten runs short on 161 for 7.

Kiveton will probably rue the fact that they didn’t press on a bit harder, but they will also be pleased that they put up a better showing than has been the case for the last six weeks which has seen them slump alarmingly.

Cutthorpe’s slim hopes all but disappeared at Goosedale Sports Club when Notts. & Arnold Amateur pulled off a five wicket win over their illustrious rivals. Cutthorpe were pinned down and eventually bowled out for just 176 with Asadullah Butt (90) and Andy Thompson (30) scoring 120 between them. They certainly could have done with a few more than 56 from the other nine players, but Notts. & Arnold must have been very pleased with Ian Flood (3 for 40) and Leigh Baldry (3 for 35) who bowled tidily throughout.

The Notts. & Arnold innings was based around two players and this pair did a quite brilliant job for their side. The Australian Leigh Baldry made a superb 40, but the real star was Jeff Ainger who contributed a magnificent unbeaten 85 as their side reached 177 for 5 to record victory. Spare a thought however for Asadullah Butt who took 5 for 61 and added to his 90 runs, he certainly didn’t deserve to end on the losing side but did.

Killamarsh gained a most important winning draw over Cuckney which eases their relegation trouble no end. Batting first Killamarsh struggled for runs with Rodney Cook top scoring on 29 as his side made 163 for 9 whilst evergreen Cliff Adwick (6 for 75) bowled superbly for Cuckney.

In reply only Paul Gurnell (43) made any impact as Cuckney held out desperately on 133 for 9. Steve Ludlam (4 for 28) was the best Killamarsh bowler and this winning draw will lift the side’s confidence no end in the struggle to stay up.

Bolsover added another eighteen points to their ever growing total at the top of Division 2 with a comprehensive winning draw over North Wheatley with Leverton. Batting first however they struggled early on with Andy Crookes and Usman Saeed being dismissed cheaply before a fearsome onslaught hit the North Wheatley attack.

Bolsover closed their innings on 241 for 3 with Mark Bull making a magnificent unbeaten 101 and great support came from Steve Wooley (67) and Malc. Griffiths (57 n.o.) as the ball was slammed to every part of the ground.

It was very much a similar story when North Wheatley batted as Usman Saeed (3 for 17) and Steve Wooley (3 for 6) completely took over and never relaxed their grip. Wheatley concluded their innings on 86 for 9 and Bolsover simply keep marching on to their inevitable title.

A team who have made rapid improvement over the past few weeks is Papplewick & Linby 2 nd and they did it again by recording a winning draw over second placed Blidworth at Burmah Road . This is the only side to have beaten Bolsover this season and so it is no major surprise when they put other sides to the sword and if they had started this run earlier they would certainly have been in contention for promotion.

Batting first Papplewick made 170 all out with Ian Hardy top scoring on 31. Skipper Dave Wood was Blidworth’s bowling hero taking 5 for 44 in a tidy accurate stint of slow bowling. Despite a spirited 47 by Dave Donaldson this target always looked too big for Blidworth and this proved to be the case as they held out desperately at the end on 146 for 8.

Papplewick’s Steve Alford proved to be as near unplayable as it is possible to get bowling an incredible 20 overs which included 15 maidens and his final analysis was 3 for 10 which by any going is some feat. Ransome and Marles really are the form team in this section however and excluding matches affected by rain they have registered twelve consecutive games in which they have either won or gained winning draws in.

At Elm Park with Eckington the visitors they batted very averagely making a paltry 120 for 9 when the 46 overs ran out and will be eternally grateful to Ian Sellars for his dogged unbeaten 31 runs. Wayne Dye (4 for 54) and Dave Barton (3 for 27) bowled exceptionally well for Eckington who looked to have done a good job at half way.

It was not to be however as Gary Lambert (5 for 33) and Australian Brett Richardson (4 for 28) proved far too good for Eckington who were bowled out for just 85 runs and this was a massive setback to their promotion hopes which now seem to be fading fast.

Ransomes are now in a position to challenge and it will take a good side to deny them as they seem to have developed a system in which they win from virtually impossible positions. Not a bad thing to get into is that!

Anston’s hopes also took a big knock when they only managed a losing draw at Pilsley after doing all the hard work only to fail when they batted. Batting first Pilsley were mortified to lose Saeed Bin Nasir early but sensible innings by Dave Wright (36) and Michael Thompson (36) saw them eek out a respectable total of 155 all out with Andrew Ruczenczyn (3 for 52) and Graham Tweed (5 for 53) doing most of the damage.

Anston then made a good start and when they reached 94 for 3 it looked as though they would be celebrating victory and moving back into the race for the runners up place. Jonathan Taylor (35) and Mark Parkinson (32) batted supremely well but a fantastic spell of bowling by Mark Limb (4 for 15) totally stood the game on its head and Pilsley roared back into contention as Anston slumped to 131 for 9 at the close.

This just goes to show what cricket is all about and also illuminates the fact that a game is never over until it is won. So many things can happen and that is what makes cricket the greatest game of all. Don’t listen to what anybody else might tell you, because if they say different, they simply don’t know and don’t understand the game!

Everton moved closer to the safety mark with a comprehensive four wicket win over Farnsfeild 2 nd at the Metcalf Ground. Batting first Farnsfield could only muster 158 all out despite excellent contributions from Gary Peck (38), Phil Tyler (37) and Pete Wood (36). Robert Peck was the main reason for this taking 6 for 43 in a fine sustained spell of bowling for his side.

This average total was overtaken by Everton as they reached 164 for 6 with John Leach (61), Chris Anthony (31 n.o.) and Duncan Hargreaves (34 n.o.) all batting brilliantly for their side. Pete Wood took 4 for 52 and was most unfortunate to end on the losing side after all his efforts.

The final match saw Whitwell climb ever nearer to safety as they crushed bottom side Notts. & Arnold 2 nd by 74 runs at the Rookery. Batting first, Whitwell were well served by skipper Alan Draycott who led from the front with an excellent 34. Kevin Scott bowled a superb line for the visitors taking 5 for 59 in a good spell which certainly put their side in with a shout as Whitwell totalled 171 for 9 when the overs ran out.

Despite a good knock from Joe Pallister who made an unbeaten 42 this total was far too many for Notts. & Arnold who were bowled out for just 97. Nathan Morris had the incredible figures of 6 for 8 as Whitwell’s attack totally destroyed the Notts & Arnold resistance or lack of it as the case may be.