Bassetlaw Cricket League cup competitions
by Paul Barker, 5th June 2006

The Mallen Trophy in its new revised form as a 20/20 competition has been hit badly by the weather but is now under way and teams are catching up with fixtures which were scheduled a few weeks ago. Already the matches played seem to have been a terrific success and the club’s who didn’t enter this year’s competition might well be regretting that they didn’t. Results so far to hand are as follows:-

Group D

At the Rookery: WHITWELL 193 for 6, beat HARTHILL 130 all out by 63 runs

Whitwell who have enjoyed a great start to the season made a terrific entry in their first match in this revamped competition scoring at nearly ten runs per over throughout their innings. The main destroyer of the Harthill attack was Dave Jessop who plundered a rapid fire 70 with a succession of fiercely hit shots all around the wicket.

In reply Harthill never looked like matching this total although both Chris Page and Ian Briggs made 41 each in excellent knocks for their side. The thorns in the Harthill side were Pete Ramsdale (5 for 19) and Australian Heath Bush (4 for 27) who both bowled extremely tidily and gave little away as Harthill were dismissed for just 130.

Group C

At Langwith Road: CUTTHORPE 156 for 0, lost to CUCKNEY 157 for 2 by eight wickets

A tremendous match at Cuckney saw the home side pull off an improbable win after Cutthorpe had treated their bowling with absolute disdain. Not a single wicket was lost as Asadullah Butt (88 n.o.) and Matt Cluer (51 n.o.) simply put the Cuckney attack to the sword and with the wicket playing extremely well, they needed to record every run which was available to them.

This theory was totally borne out as Cuckney passed this challenging total losing only two wickets in the process. Richard Stroh (49) and Will Butler (79 n.o.) both batted exquisitely and never looked likely to fail as Cuckney skated home with eight wickets to spare.

Group C

At Langwith Road: CUCKNEY 73 all out, lost to GLAPWELL 74 for 0 by ten wickets

This competition is now gaining pace and throwing up some rather quirky results. Cuckney having demolished Cutthorpe in their previous match now became victims as Glapwell who now seem to be sliding into their best form gave them a ten wicket drubbing with comparative ease.

Batting first Cuckney’s only saviour from a real disaster was a well made 30 by William Ullyott, whilst the rest could not cope with the combined efforts of Matt Hall (3 for 34), Gary Saxby (2 for 13) and Nick Bircumshaw (2 for 7) and were all out for an extremely disappointing 73.

This target proved totally inadequate as Glapwell coasted to a ten wicket win with assured stroke play from Lee Topham (31 n.o.) and Nick Bircumshaw (30 n.o.) as they reached 74 for 0 with several overs to spare. This pair played it exactly right and were totally in command.

The Tomlin Trophy – 2^nd Round

At Langwith Road: CUCKNEY 133 all out, lost to WHITWELL 134 for 9 by one wickets

This match was without doubt the ‘classic encounter’ with the leaders of Division 1 meeting their counterparts from Division 2 and as often happens a tremendous surprise happened.

Batting first Cuckney failed to carry their excellent league form over and were dismissed for just 133 with Richard Stroh (47) and Tom Ullyott (25) making the major contributions. Ian Dennis who has returned to Whitwell after a one year sabatical appears to be totally rejuvenated and captured 4 for 33 in a very impressive stint. Australian Heath Bush provided excellent support taking 3 for 15 as the Cuckney innings disintegrated alarmingly.

Not that this modest total proved to be anything but easy as Whitwell lost the important wicket of Alan Draycott early but an excellent innings of 41 by Tom Chester put them in with a fighting chance. Will Butler was the main threat to Whitwell taking 3 for 23 but the Cuckney attack were their own worst enemies conceding a colossal 26 extras with nineteen of these disgracefully being wides.

In a thrilling finish with the last pair at the crease Whitwell surged past the winning post with just two balls remaining to pull off a fantastic victory to the delight of their followers.