Silcock shatters Bolsover as Farnsfield go top
by Paul Barker, 19th June 2006

A magnificent spell of hostile quick bowling by Kiwi Mark Silcock completely shattered any hopes Bolsover might have had of pulling off a shock at Villas Road on Saturday. Silcock took three out of four wickets that Bolsover lost in making just 26 and from then on it was only a case of waiting for the inevitable.

Akram Khan who has made such a big impression since arriving at Bolsover a few weeks ago was probably the most unfortunate as he received a ball from Mark Hallam which would have accounted for the worlds best. Pitching just inside the leg stump, lifting and taking the off bail as Khan looked on in horror. By contrast Steve Wooley was rather unfortunate in another way when a good length ball from Silcock uprooted his leg stump and hardly lifted at all.

Only a bold knock from Chris Plant (35) saved Bolsover from complete disaster as they slumped to 114 all out with Silcock (4 for 25) being the chief thorn in their side as well as taking an amazing catch in the slips.

The rest of the wickets were spread about with Mark Hallam who shared the new ball with Silcock taking 2 for 40, and Dave Bell (1 for 11), Phil Creswell (1 for 15) and Pete Wood (2 for 11) claimed the rest.

Farnsfield got away to a good start before Bennett played a sloppy shot to be caught at mid off, but Paul Delaney (20), Phil Creswell (18 n.o.) and Graham Bramley whose innings of 34 looked the most assured of the day made sure there were no further setbacks as Farnsfield eased home. Chris Pemberton (2 for 26) put in his usual whole hearted stint, but there was simply not enough runs to defend.

The pitch didn’t help matters as the Bolsover wicket is usually rather good. However this one had uneven bounce and nobody holding a bat looked truly comfortable all day.

Farnsfield now move to the head of the table along with Killamarsh who simply destroyed previous occupants Cuckney by 89 runs at Sheffield Road.

Batting first, Killamarsh reached a useful looking 219 for 9 when the overs ran out and this was mainly due to an assured 70 from Adam Burgess and other excellent contributions from Sam Malpass (54) and Nalika De Silva (40). Anthony Johnson (3 for 33) was the best of a rather overworked Cuckney attack.

Despite good knocks from Alex Greer (35) and Gareth Price (53) Cuckney slumped badly to 130 all out against a strong and varied Killamarsh attack in which Pramuka Liyanage (5 for 21) and Parmindah Mudhar (3 for 24) were the destroyers in chief.

Kiveton Park moved up to third place with a comfortable four wicket win at Blidworth. With the hosts batting first they were reliant on Kiwi Doug Winger (32) and Ritchie Gibbons (33) but Richard Spurr (4 for 32) and Jamie Radford (3 for 46) made sure they didn’t get too excited about anything as both bowled extremely tidily indeed.

The final Blidworth total of 161 for 9 never looked likely to be good enough and this proved to be the case as the super confident Phil Cooper (56) quickly gained the ascendancy for Kiveton. They finally reached their target on 164 for 6 with only Dave Wood the Blidworth skipper who took 4 for 47 being the only bowler to trouble the Kiveton batsmen.

Cutthorpe moved up to fourth in hot pursuit of the others with a resounding six wicket win at Worksop.

The Worksop innings was not without its moments and there was cruel luck for batsman Chris Taylor who exploded a shot back down the wicket which came off Steve Chapman’s thumb and crashed with sickening force into the head of umpire Malcolm Swift. From there the ball looped in the air and was caught at mid off by Andy Knowles. Although several made a case that Taylor was not out, there could be no doubt that he was but there must have been little hope of him winning last night’s Lottery with luck like this.

Luke Ambrose (35) and Mark Ambrose (30) were the pick of the Worksop batsmen as they were bowled out for just 156 with Steve Chapman recording the outstanding bowling figures of 6 for 14.

This target was rather limp and Andy Thompson was once again in mighty form as he literally thrashed the Worksop attack unmercifully on his way to a magnificent unbeaten 105 off just 99 balls.

Thompson blasted 18 fours in his innings and received excellent support from Matt Cluer (25) as Cutthorpe moved up to fourth as Cuckney reeled all the way from leaders to fifth in the table at one fell swoop.

An innings of sheer class by Notts. & Arnold Amateur skipper Ian Flood proved much too good for Glapwell at Goosedale Lane. Glapwell had batted quite well to reach 225 for 4 with Lee Topham making a brilliant 105. Matt Hall (44) and skipper Iain O’Brien (33 n.o.) both gave admirable support to Topham as they built a score which looked imposing to say the least.

However it was nowhere near enough as Bill Trewartha (32), Leigh Baldry (62 n.o.) and the fantastic Flood (123 n.o.) steered Notts. & Arnold to 229 for 2 and a tremendous eight wicket victory with six overs to spare. Flood arrived at the wicket at the same time as Baldry and had completed his century at the same time as the Australian reached his fifty in an awesome attacking display.

Edwinstowe did their hopes of survival a power of good with a crushing seven wicket win over Marshalls who appear to be in freefall at the moment. Batting first Marshalls made a useful looking 194 for 9 with Mark Whitlam (32) and Chris Needham (45) propping up the innings against some excellent bowling by Shaun Bullin (4 for 45) and Asif Zakir (3 for 49).

Zakir had far from finished as he blasted the Marshalls attack all around the wicket to make a magnificent unbeaten 127 as Edwinstowe reached victory on 197 for 3. Dave Hallam provided the sheet anchor with a steady 25 n.o., but Zakir was the star of the day with a brilliant innings that will lift his side’s confidence greatly.

A match of staggering quality took place at The Rookery, Whitwell, where the home side who top Division 2 and second placed Ransome & Marles fought out a tremendous battle which saw the Newark side take away fifteen points for a winning draw in an epic encounter.

Ransomes clobbered the wilting Whitwell attack for a mammoth 347 for 3 in the 46 allotted overs with Ian Sellars (33), Nigel Murray (47) and Rob Taylor (71) playing the supporting cast to a sensational unbeaten 182 by South African star Francois Le Clus. It was impossible to bowl at him and the innings was virtually chanceless and anyone lucky enough to witness this knock will treasure the memory of it for a very long while.

Not that Whitwell didn’t do the business when they batted and their captain courageous Alan Draycott made a sparkling 88 and Australian Heath Bush was undefeated on 83 at stumps as Whitwell totalled 204 for 4. Paul Taylor (3 for 51) tried his hardest to make inroads into the Whitwell innings but it was all in vain  as the pitch was as near perfect as you are ever likely to see. This was a great game between two sides who deserve to be where they are, first and second in the table.

Bridon continue to stalk both of them however and they pulled off a terrific six wicket win over Farnsfield 2^nd at Station Lane in another high scoring encounter. Batting first, Farnsfield batted much better than in recent weeks with Trevor West (73) and Gary Peck (64) blasting the score along at a frightening rate of knots. Simon Davison (5 for 39) was once again the pick of the Bridon attack as Farnsfield were finally dismissed for a commendable 240.

Bridon have built up a head of confidence over the last few weeks and it showed once again as they set out to overhaul this total with the correct desire. Rob McLeod (42), Richard Topham (44 n.o.) and Roger Wells (77) eventually saw them victorious with a score of 243 for 4 to take maximum points.

Everton went down to a losing draw at Papplewick after a tremendous run which had lifted them to fourth in the table. Having said that they gave the hosts Papplewick and Linby 2^nd a good game in a match which swung many ways before Everton managed to cling on at 171 for 9 after the home side had been bowled out for 223.

The high spot of the Papplewick innings was a magnificent 125 by Steve Waite with shots all around the wicket, plus 34 from Ed Somekh whilst the rest of the innings rather crumbled against some steady bowling by Andy Snell (3 for 38) and Steven Crooks (5 for 50).

It was a similar scenario for Everton with the brilliant John Mimms again setting the tone with a terrific 64 and other good knocks came from Rob Nicholas and Matthew Dawson who made 26 each. The rest of the batting fell away rather and Wasim Rana (3 for 55) seized the initiative to gain the lions share of the points for Papplewick.

Eckington moved back on to the victory path with an easy eight wicket win over Notts. & Arnold Amateur 2^nd at Staveley Lane. Batting first Notts. & Arnold could only manage 124 all out and without Sam Pallister’s 46 the total would have looked a lot more dismal. Simon West (4 for 50) and Luke Dawson (3 for 52) were the destroyer’s in chief  as Eckington manoeuvred themselves into a winning position.

It didn’t take them too long to attain their goal, losing only two wickets in the process. James Daniel (44) and Julian Carlile (42 n.o.) made sure their were not too many blips as they cruised to a comfortable maximum points haul.  

Anston recovered from an awful run of late to prise a three wicket win over Mansfield & Pleasley at Ryton Road. Fred Parker (39) and David Williams (40) top scored for Mansfield & Pleasley as they made a rather disappointing 177 for 8 as the overs ran out.

In reply Dean Brearley (41), Kevin Vollans (50) and Ian Barley (35 n.o.) saw Anston achieve success on 179 for 7 despite an excellent spell of bowling by Darren Walker (3 for 30).

The last match in Division 2 saw North Wheatley with Leverton claim a much needed success over Mansfield Hosiery Mills 2^nd at South Wheatley. Batting first North Wheatley reached a modest 163 all out with Martin Pring (37), Wayne Ellis (36) and Dave Waller (30) scoring the bulk of the runs whilst Kyle Garside (3 for 30) and Darren Brittlebank (3 for 41) were the pick of the Hosiery Mills attack.

It was enough however as Hosiery Mills collapsed to just 141 all out to give North Wheatley a 22 run success.

Although Paul Wilkinson (45) and Ben Rossi (31) both batted well the rest disintegrated against some accurate bowling by Robin Hackney (6 for 31), and James Blackwell (3 for 27) and succumbed to defeat.