Report on Matches Played on 12 May

It was a great relief to most of the clubs in the league that the weather over the last few days had shown such an improvement that most games were able to go ahead; the West Indian Cavaliers remain the unluckiest side in the league as their match against Mansfield Hosiery Mills was cancelled and they remain the only side in the league yet to take the field in 2012.

Cuckney are the run-away leaders with an 18-point lead after their third straight win of the season away at Welbeck; the home side invited Cuckney to bat first and were dismissed in exactly 50 overs for 222. Adam Burgess contributed most with 75 and Richard Stroh and Tom Ullyott both scoring 33; Aussie Kyle Francis making a superb Premier League debut for Welbeck grabbed figures of 6-46 from his 15 overs. But Cuckney’s bowling attack is on fire this year and no side has yet to reach three figures against them; Welbeck struggled as others have and they were dismissed for 79 in 34 overs with skipper Will Butler taking 4-16.

Before today’s matches, Cuckney shared the lead at the top of the table with the Nottinghamshire Academy who travelled to Clifton to take on a side that had barely hit their stride in 2012. But Clifton raised their game to snatch a 7-wicket victory against the County side. Home skipper Richard Harris won the toss and chose to field first and a much-improved Clifton attack dismissed the Academy for 151 in 49 overs with only Hassan Azad (40) and Adam Tillcock (36) making significant contributions; Dan Footitt returned the best figures of the match with 3-11. The reigning champions clinched the victory inside 42 overs with Liam Andrews leading the way with an unbeaten 57.

Kimberley had also had a useful start to the season and would have be hoping to catch Caythorpe on the hop on their visit to the Private Ground in what was the visitors first outing of the season. But Caythorpe had other plans and inflicted a 5-wicket loss on the home side. Kimberley batted first and were dismissed for 212 in three balls short of their 50 over allocation; James Mann starred with 59 not out, supported by Dan Birch (41) and Jon Terry (30) with 44 year old Tim Haines taking 5-42 in 15 overs. The Caythorpe batters have obviously been netting assiduously during their rain-enforced delayed start to the season as they overcame their target with two overs to spare; Darren Bicknell (75) and Josh Mierkalns (54) set up the win but Steve Allcoat saw the side home with an unbeaten 34.

Ties in cricket are rare but the game between Worksop ended that way; visitors Wollaton batted first on winning the toss and were dismissed in just over 45 overs with Alex King leading the batting unit with 31 and Conor Smith (3-51) and Mark Smallwood (3-39). At 135 for 4, the Bassetlaw Champions were looking good for their first Premier League win of the season but a dramatic collapse saw them bowled out for the same score in the 52nd over. Wayne Spooner (62) and West Indian Kelbert Walters (41) got them close but Wollaton’s Dominic Reed won the game with 6-23 including the last two wickets.

The final game of the day saw visitors Papplewick inflict an eight wicket loss on Plumtree; the South Notts champions lost the toss and batted first and were disappointed to be dismissed in the 49th over for 126. Opener Ben Milnes was the only home batter to really get to grips with a very damp wicket with 44, but Plumtree lost their last five wickets for 25 with Oliver Makin being most effective with 4-28. Good tight opening bowling from Mohsin Qayyum and Matt Milnes reduced Papplewick to 31 for 2 but an unbroken stand of 96 between Mark Nelson (55*) and Warren Nel (29*) saw the visitors home to grab a 20-point to nil victory.

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