Wet and miserable
by Mark Simmerson, 9th May 2006

The first full weekend of fixtures was greeted by glorious sunshine and blue skies. Until the afternoon that is. Then the weather was wet and miserable. De La Salle went to surprise Division One leaders Stanton and sent back the home team for 124 (D.Rosling 47*, Gayle 5-44, S.Wainwright 4-26). Nick Rosling (5-23) took a hat-trick of LBW’s - out six in the De La Salle innings and nine in the match to leave De La Salle feeling decidedly peaky, all out for 71.

Stanton lead the table, but SWD are close behind. They dismissed Calver for 103 (B.Sampson 6-18) and went on to win by five wickets. Parkhead were all out at Holmesfield for 119 (N.Crapper 4-12), Nick Crapper then hitting 41* as Holmesfield won by six wickets. Millhouses made just 104 (J.Woolway 4-22, Somerton 4-24) which Hathersage passed with five wickets down. However, Joey Woolway will be out for 6-8 weeks with a badly broken finger.

A thriller at Niagara saw Ashford chase down Sheffield Centralians 192-7 (Rhodes 40), winning by three wickets (Barn 4-44). Hundall amassed 219-4 (M.Dawson 67, Marsh 42*) and bowled out Stocksbridge I for 181 (Price 46, Yardy 4-40, Badcock 4-44).

Division Two title contenders University Staff visited Olive Grove Road to play SWD II. Works made a healthy 180 all out (C.Sampson 63, Sharma 5-59), but prolific Staff openers Needham - 79* and Kerry 85* knocked them off without loss. Bakewell made 198-6 (J.Luckraft 81) and James Luckraft then turned to bowling, his 4-17 dismissing Sheffield Centralians II for 162. Chesterfield Barbarians after their win on Bank Holiday Monday came back down hard, all out for 42 (A.Hulley 5-18, D.Hulley 4-11), Sheepbridge losing two wickets before reaching the target.

Grindleford declared at 214-6 (Cornes 109, T.Outram 48) and held DLS II to 130-8 (Cornes 4-35). Baslow totalled 163 (Turner 4-41, D.Drew 4-44) and knocked over fancied Dronfield Woodhouse for 112 (T.Taylor 4-38). The normally placid Mark Winter got all fired up at Parkhead II, taking 5-42 as Parkhead II were all out for 162. Sheffield Collegiate III got there - just, winning by two wickets.

In the first game of the summer in Division Three, Millhouses II reached 226-4 (Joyce 76, Atrill 60*) before Heaven captured 6-47 to bowl out Hallam III for 163. Stocksbridge II made 172-8 (Price 89) and restricted Hathersage II to 145-8 (Montgomery 5-33). Hundall II tallied a useful 183-6 (I.Bayston 53), but Kadir with an unbeaten 76 took Sheffield Transport to a three wicket win despite 4-89 from Gibson. Walkley scored 160 (Hudson 68) and Ridgeway passed this with four down (Byers 60*, Roberts 45). Sheffield Collegiate V attained 168-9 (A.Leiper 45) and Whittington Wanderers were all out for 136 in their reply.

Leading the way in Division Four, Whittington Wanderers II sent back Stocksbridge III for 126 and won by seven wickets (P.Whiteley 64*). Chesterfield Barbarians II scored 165 (Mullins 48, Slack 40) and held Baslow II to 116-9 (Fletcher 4-35). Dronfield Sports II hit 141 (Turner 84, Bramwell 6-44), then Sheepbridge II were all out for 118, Wolstenholme’s 7-55 the best return in the League thus far. For University Staff II, Rahim hit the highest score so far - 126 not out in his team’s 192-8 (Smallwood 4-37). But Harris (52) and Rupra (44) saw Sheffield Zingari to the target seven wickets.