Kiveton keep up the pace
by Paul Barker, 15th July 2007

There can be no doubt that Kiveton Park are the business this season. After unceremoniously dumping favourites Cuckney last week they got the better of a determined Thoresby Colliery side at Fourth Avenue with the hosts clinging on desperately at the close.

Batting first, Kiveton made just 184 all out with excellent knocks from Ian Hampshire (52) and Harsha Cooray (67) on a track that after Friday’s downpour didn’t favour the batsmen too much. Steve Willis bowled his usual excellent line and length stuff to take 4 for 29 and Billy Lippeatt was back in top form with 3 for 45. 

However this score proved more than adequate as only Farook Aziz (36) and Chris Spring (41) made any headway against a tidy Kiveton attack in which Kyle McKeeman (4 for 23) was the star performer. Thoresby’s final total was 150 for 9 and it was the first time this season that Kiveton had failed to register an outright win in the games they have played. 

Cuckney rebounded back well from last week’s defeat by easily overpowering Notts. & Arnold Amateur at Goosedale. Notts. & Arnold were bowled out for just 173 and this total never at any time looked adequate. Tom Elliot was once again their top scorer with 42 and Joe Pallister not for the first time this season added strong support with 33. Steve Randall once again showed what a good capture he has been for Cuckney, helping himself to 4 for 35 as the rest of the Notts. & Arnold innings crumbled disastrously.

This total proved not the slightest problem to Cuckney and Kunil Jogea who has threatened on several occasions this season decided that this was his day to register his first century making a magnificent 107 n.o. with excellent support from Daniel Brown (46). Cuckney reached 177 for 3 with ease and collected a maximum twenty points.

Worksop who have had a season to forget must have thought that things had changed for the better when they bowled third placed Bolsover out for just 115 at Central Avenue. When you are down however, you usually stay down, and Bolsover ripped them out for just 105 to win by ten runs and close to within eight points of Kiveton Park.

Incredibly enough Andy Rogers who has been in good touch all season scored 40, and Hasnan Kazim added an unbeaten 43 as Bolsover struggled badly against David Hancock who helped himself to 5 for 39.  The rest contributed little and Bolsover certainly owe this pair a debt of gratitude. In comparison with other performances this season, this was not one of Bolsover’s best, but Worksop must have been really pleased at this point.

Everything changed fast though and had it not been for Worksop’s new Sri-Lankan recruit Nandika Ranjith who scored an enterprising 40, Worksop’s plight would have been much worse. Chris Pemberton (3 for 21) and Hasnan Kazim (3 for 33) were the innings wreckers and Bolsover showed once again that they fear nobody.

Worksop must be very pleased with Nandika Ranjith of whom a Bolsover source told me was in addition to his batting, ‘the best bowler I have faced this season’, but their luck needs to change rapidly because they are now in a parlous position.

When you only score 202 all out at Farnsfield you must fear the worst, and in that respect, Bridon were not disappointed. Batting first, Bridon were well served by skipper Wayne Spooner (55) and David Fagan (71) who put on excellent displays as did Mark Silcock who was at his very best taking 5 for 44 in a hostile spell as Bridon crumbled after a good start.

As expected this target was totally inadequate and Paul Delaney registered a brilliant unbeaten 105 and the rich promise of 14 year-old Sam Wood was there for all to see as he made a tremendous 71. James Crooks took all three wickets to fall at a cost of 39 runs, but Farnsfield arrived without too many problems at 203 for 3 to take maximum points.

As has been said many times before, if you don’t post a huge total at Farnsfield you are in serious trouble, and I find it staggering that some people dare to criticise the track. It is quite simply the flattest, truest club pitch in the Midlands and probably the best you will find anywhere, and if you can’t play cricket on this, well probably you are involved in the wrong game!

Whilst batting and bowling are hugely important, fielding is never given the praise it sometimes deserves as regards who wins a game. A prime example of this took place at Park Avenue where Glapwell’s fielding was dismal to say the least, whilst Marshalls’ was quite brilliant. This of course resulted in the Gainsborough side taking seventeen points for a winning draw.

Not that Glapwell didn’t hold their catches, because they did, two by Uma Khan and Matt Hall respectively were absolute ‘belters’, but their ground fielding was woeful with wicket-keeper Shaun Johnson racing all over the place to take poor returns and bouncing up and down like Zebedee to catch indiscriminate throws.

Marshalls got away to an excellent start putting on 98 for the first wicket with Paul Van den Heuvel and Mark Whitlam providing the aggression and the steadiness respectively. Van den Heuvel made a superb 77 runs and some fine later efforts by James Deacon (35) and Greg Andrews (28) saw them finally reach 203 all out in the 49^th over.

Glapwell’s 17 year-old Lewis Saxby certainly had a game to remember taking 3 for 42 with all three wickets coming in consecutive deliveries to give him the hat-trick, two bowled and one l.b.w. Dean Graney bowled a superb 15 over spell to take 4 for 59 and Uma Khan chipped in with 2 for 33.

Two early wickets set the tone and Marshalls applied the pressure with some fine stops which set Glapwell behind the clock and they never regained the initiative. As had happened the previous week, Matt Hall (27) and Nick Truswell gave the home side some hope but the latter in particular hit some terrific shots which must have frustrated him when they were stopped by fielders.  

Truswell whose policy is usually one of an aggressive intent was last out for a superb 62 with just one ball remaining as Glapwell limped along to 165 for 8. Mark Davies (3 for 58), Chris Hearn (2 for 22) and Andrew Coles (2 for 42) all bowled superbly and were well backed up by all their colleagues in the field as Marshalls took the bulk of the points.

There were shocks galore in Division 2 with Waleswood progressing further clear of their rivals thanks to a close three wicket win at Anston. Batting first Anston were in a commanding position of 145 for 3 with twenty overs left when the wheels fell off. From this position they simply collapsed to 194 all out, mainly due to the fact that nobody followed up the start that skipper Andy Forster (54) and Andrew Ruczenczyn (71) had given them.

Simon Cope (3 for 34), Gareth Davies (3 for 23) and Pete Norbury (3 for 23) simply scythed through some non-existent resistance and Waleswood found themselves in a much better position than they could have hoped for as Anston folded badly.

Not that Waleswood found things easy and had it not been for a fabulous knock of 106 n.o., by Amer Riaz, they might have easily lost as they limped to 198 for 7. Graham Tweed (3 for 43) and Ian Barley (3 for 33) bowled superbly for Anston who must have wished they had made a few more runs to defend.

The two chasing teams Edwinstowe and Eckington both succumbed to shock defeats at the hands of Papplewick & Linby 2^nd and Blidworth respectively. Edwinstowe only went down narrowly at Papplewick where the home side set them a less than imposing 129 all out target to better. Jamie Peat (27) and Steve Thomas (27) top scored for Papplewick whilst Richard Gombos (3 for 25), Shaun Bullin (3 for 40) and Aaron Rhodes (3 for 31) all bowled well and reaped their rewards.

If Edwinstowe thought this was going to be easy, they soon had another think coming as they were bundled out for just 115 to lose by 14 runs. Only Paul Benson (25) and Jeff Appleton (15) made any sort of score as John Thrower (4 for 37) and Steve Alford (2 for 13) bowled brilliantly on a responsive pitch. Papplewick are now right up amongst the leader board and are a threat to everyone playing good cricket like this.

Eckington were simply demolished by Blidworth at Staveley Lane by seven wickets. Had it not been for 37 excellent runs by Julian Carlile, Eckington’s plight would have been much worse as they were flushed out for just 88 runs. The architect of their destruction was Humoyun Kabir who followed up his good work of the previous week with a very impressive 4 for 11.

It was the same when Blidworth batted and despite three wickets falling Kabir made a brilliant unbeaten 55 to steer his side home on 89 for 3. It would be immensely foolish to write Blidworth off as they are making progress towards the top of the league at a terrific pace and with the signing of Kabir who is undoubtedly a very good player they may well cause a lot of the other sides major problems.

The other three matches in this section involved teams at the wrong end of the table and some major shocks were forthcoming. Starting at Chesterfield Road, Mansfield & Pleasley who were in the middle of an almighty slump came out of it with a crushing ten wicket win over Mansfield Hosiery Mills 2^nd.

Hosiery Mills were bowled out for just 55 runs with skipper Darren Walker leading the charge with 3 for 10 whilst Darren Johnson with 12 runs was incredibly enough the top scorer.

This proved to be no problem to Mansfield & Pleasley and Matt Page (37 n.o.) quickly gave them a morale-boosting win as they sailed to 58 for 0 in quick time.  

Whitwell were another side that have been feeling the pressure at the bottom, but they recorded a fantastic 44 runs over high flying Caythorpe 2^nd at the Rookery. Batting first Whitwell performed better than of recent weeks scoring 142 all out with Duncan Forrest (32) and Dave Jessop (34) leading the chase. Andrew Staszkiewicz who has bowled consistently well in recent weeks again did the business taking 5 for 42 for Caythorpe.   

The return of Whitwell’s ‘Prodigal Son’ Andrew Biggin signalled a new beginning for his side as he bagged 4 for 19 in a very impressive stint. There has never been the slightest doubt about Biggin’s ability, and it is great to see him back playing once again after his retirement which came about much too early. Biggin is in his third spell at Whitwell and if he can capture the form everyone he knows he is capable of he will be a threat for everyone. Good support came from Heath Bush (3 for 27) and Darren Westerby (3 for 10) as Caythorpe were bowled out for just 98.

Everton slumped to an all out 80 against North Wheatley with Leverton who promptly smashed off the runs for the loss of just two wickets. Only John Waghorne (24) made any impact for Everton as Jamie Bovill (5 for 10), James Blackwell (2 for 13) and James Waller (2 for 30) caused a mountain of problems for their batting.

In reply Wayne Harrison (36) and Dave Waller (22) quickly took up the initiative as North Wheatley reached 84 for 2 and victory.