Big win for Glapwell
by Paul Barker, 1st June 2008

After their impressive Bank Holiday Monday victory over Thoresby Colliery, Marshalls looked capable of taking on all comers on and giving them a good game, but a visit to Park Avenue saw the wheels fall off in style as Glapwell simply crushed them by a massive eight wicket margin.

One thing that has been slightly worrying for Marshalls is the fact that their batting has not reached the form that they would seem to be capable of. Skipper Paul Van den Heuvel has quite literally ‘carried’ the side over the last few weeks and it must be a bit of a mystery, because there is a nucleus of good players around. The problem at the minute is that they are not performing to the best of their ability.

It was the same old story on Saturday and one dreads to think what might be if Van den Heuvel was ever dismissed early. On this occasion he was at his usual brilliant best as wickets fell at the other end at an alarming rate with Australian Jeff Wharton (5 for 42) and Glapwell skipper Matt Hall (3 for 31) simply ripped through some frail resistance.

Not Van den Heuvel though. He once again led from the front and made a magnificent 82 before being dismissed. When one considers that his side were all out for just 145, it shows what a Herculean effort it had been but there had been no denying Glapwell who put in their best performance of the season in the field.

When Glapwell replied it was a totally different story and despite losing a couple of wickets Danny Bircumshaw (39) and ‘Captain Courageous’, Matt Hall with a splendid unbeaten 66 took them to an impressive 146 for 2 and victory. Glapwell are now beginning to string things together, whilst Marshalls will be hoping that the rest of their batting and not just the skipper find some form quickly.

Leaders Farnsfield absolutely crushed Cutthorpe on the normally placid Station Lane track by seven wickets. Cutthorpe were in big trouble right from the word go being 19 for 6 and 30 for 8, before being bowled out for just 58, probably their poorest scores ever in their tenure in this league.

Mark Silcock (4 for 15), Lewis Saxby (3 for 20) and Neil Sharpe (2 for 18) simply ripped through the Cutthorpe rearguard and it was as well that lower order batsman Ian Thompson made 16 or it would have been much worse. The cloud cover made the ball swing appreciably in the air and nobody showed the slightest idea of how to deal with the dominant Farnsfield attack.

When Farnsfield replied wickets continued to fall and the home side stood at 18 for 3 but one always had the idea that someone would come along to settle the nerves with such a poor target to overcome. The two youngsters Michael Bell (18 n.o.) and Sam Wood (14) eventually saw their side home on 59 for 3 whilst Tariq Mahmood (2 for 19) bowled well in a vain attempt to rectify what was already a lost cause.

Notts. & Arnold Amateur looked as though they had turned the corner until Bank Holiday Monday’s defeat at Glapwell, but they were totally overcome by Retford who produced a sparkling display to win by eight wickets at Goosedale.

Notts. & Arnold batted first and had anyone given Joe Pallister the support he deserved, they may well have posted a reasonable score. Pallister made 43 out of an all out total of 131 that was quite frankly nowhere near good enough. Iain Bates with 4 for 30 was the pick of a tight Retford attack which performed better than at any other time this season.

This target was nowhere near good enough and Pascal Broadley with an assured 70 and the excellent Sri-Lankan Chandra Kumara (30) saw Retford to 136 for 2 and victory with plenty to spare. It is far too early to say Retford are going to move up the table, but when they are firing on all cylinders they are certainly much better that their league position would suggest.

Bridon and Kiveton Park were involved in a titanic struggle at Ordsall that ended with the home side coming out on top and gaining a winning draw in a well-contested match. Batting first, Bridon were indebted to Wayne Spooner who when he is flowing makes batting look ridiculously easy. He made a superb 85 out of an all out total of exactly 200 whilst Lee Brooks continued his good form with the ball taking 4 for 55 and James Hubball (3 for 60) gave excellent support.

On the normally first class track at Bridon, one wondered if this was going to be enough, but wickets fell steadily all the way through and Kiveton were left hanging on at 181 for 9 when the overs ceased. Matty Cartwright top scored, but the tone was set when Colin ‘Percy’ Hurst bowled his 13 overs straight off for the miserly cost of just 22 runs. Tim Muir the New Zealander kept a tight rein on affairs taking 4 for 59, and Stuart Goodall promoted from the second team bowled exceedingly well taking 2 for 47, as Bridon surged to the bulk of the points.

The two promoted clubs Waleswood and Edwinstowe met at Mansfield Road and the latter emerged victorious by a massive 133 runs. Batting first Edwinstowe reached a respectable 191 for 9 when the overs ran out with Ian Smith top scoring with an impressive 62 runs.

Gareth Davis (3 for 30) and Amer Riaz (3 for 27) were the pick of the Waleswood attack but this total did look rather daunting and so it proved as Waleswood were simply blown away for just 58 runs in reply.

Nobody put up much resistance as Richard Gombos (3 for 20) and Shaun Bullin with a tremendous 7 for 32 simply ripped through Waleswood as they pleased. After an impressive start, Waleswood are now simply falling apart at the seams and they need a victory to restore their shattered confidence quickly. Edwinstowe look a middle of the table side who are far too good to be lingering around the bottom but do not carry quite enough strength to challenge the ‘big boys’.

Eckington continue to stride away at the top of Division 1 and they just toyed with Worksop at Staveley Lane winning by a mighty nine-wicket margin. Batting first, Worksop were well served by Thomas Dangarembezi who made a very impressive 60 and great support was forthcoming from wicket-keeper Andy Kendall (36) and skipper Luke Ambrose (31) as Worksop totalled 172 for 7 as the overs ran out.

This score was totally inadequate as Andy Thompson simply bludgeoned his way to an unbeaten 90 and Chris Ludlam weighed in with an unbeaten 47. Eckington at the minute look the most powerful team in this section and it is going to take someone playing above themselves to put one over on them. Worksop are better than their position would suggest, but they need to start winning soon, before it gets too late.

Mansfield & Pleasley did better than they had been doing in recent weeks, but it was still nowhere near good enough as Anston simply annihilated them by nine wickets. Batting first Mansfield & Pleasley saw out their 46 overs, making 82 for 9 with Ian Woodall unbeaten on 31. When one considers that their last three innings had yielded less than 70 runs each time, I suppose this might be classed as an improvement but they do look as though their confidence is totally ‘shot’ and they need a quick pick-me-up.

Anston’s main threat was Andrew Ruczenczyn who helped himself to 4 for 6 in a terrific spell and his side quickly showed that batting wasn’t too difficult as they raced to 83 for 1 and victory with Patrick Gada (37) and Kevin Vollans (32 n.o.) knocking off the runs with panache and style.

When the team batting first is all out for 100, you would expect the side batting second to record a pretty comfortable victory, but sometimes that assumption can be so very wrong as it proved at Sookholme Lane on Saturday.

Batting first Welbeck 2^nd were soon under the cosh and had it not been for a very responsible innings by Liam Bentley (22) matters could have been much worse as the West Indian Cavaliers 2^nd kept the pressure on. Umar Zamman (3 for 15), Shahid Khan (2 for 17) and Zubin Faisal (2 for 15) never let the pressure shift and Welbeck would have been disappointed with their modest total.

If they were it didn’t show and the Cavaliers were quickly reduced to 8 for 4 and in deep trouble as Scott Morley ripped through the early order with figures at that time of 3 for 3. A brave and adventurous knock of 38 by Zubin Faisal looked to have swung the match back in the Cavaliers favour but when another host of wickets fell, they looked as though there was no hope for them.

Still this match had another turn as Tino Kupera hit out bravely as he and last man Asad Ishtiaq looked as though they might rescue a lost cause until the latter was caught at slip by Frank Cairns from the bowling of Reece Wymborne with the score on 96 to give Welbeck a narrow four run win.

Scott Morley (3 for 29) and Rollo Sharma (2 for 19) both bowled well but the real star was Reece Wymborne (4 for 12) who caused havoc with the amount of turn he extracted from the pitch and it was only fitting that he delived the final blow that gave Welbeck an unlikely win.

Caythorpe 2^nd who had suffered two recent setbacks simply brushed Whitwell aside with complete disdain. Batting first, Caythorpe rattled up a useful looking 215 for 8 with Paul Riley (69) and Billy Wright (64) batting superbly whilst Australian Matt Goodwright (4 for 47) was the pick of the Whitwell attack.

It was more than enough for Whitwell who struggled to an all out total of just 99! Despite a defiant knock of 31 by Carl Curran, nobody else looked remotely capable of dealing with Geoff Crook (5 for 28) and Lee Hawkes (3 for 17) as Caythorpe moved to a comfortable 116 run win.

Papplewick & Linby 2^nd were winning draw victors over Mansfield Hosiery Mills 2^nd in a well-contested match. Batting first, Papplewick totalled 195 for 9 with Rohan Shah who has had a marvellous season up to now adding to his growing prowess with a top score of 57 and Graeme Roberts adding 37. For the Hosiery Mills, Zuhaib Saleem (2 for 59), Mark Smallwood (2 for 45) and Darren Johnson (2 for 26) were the main threats all bowling exceedingly tidily.

Hosiery Mills never really threatened this score making 164 for 9 with Daniel Kilvington batting very well to make an undefeated 44. Steve Alford (3 for 38) and John Thrower (3 for 44) bowled brilliantly for Papplewick who took 18 points for their share of the spoils.

Blidworth totally dominated their game against Ransome and Marles without managing to deliver the final knockout blow. Batting first, Blidworth ran up an impressive 209 for 7 with the aggressive Dave Willcock (84), Andy Watson (46) and Karl Mayes (30) all contributing well to the cause. Steve Flynn with 3 for 60 was the only Ransome’s bowler to carry much threat.

Despite a good knock of 39 by Gary Lambert and an unbeaten 31 from Steve Button, Ransome’s could only manage 131 for 8 as Blidworth continued to outclass them right through to the end.