Darren Bicknell scored 174 from 156 for Belvoir against Welbeck Colliery

Welbeck Colliery’s title chances have slipped a little in the last few weeks and they travelled to Belvoir on Saturday hoping to start a winning sequence again but came up against Darren Bicknell at his most belligerent. The home side won the toss and batted first and smashed a mighty 337 for 5 in their 50 over stint with former Notts star Bicknell grabbing 174 from 156 balls, including 27 fours and two sixes. Gurpej Landa continued his fine season with 81. Knipton is a high-scoring ground but this was a daunting target and Belvoir nearly recorded their first win of the season but couldn’t take the last Welbeck wicket as they hung on at 222 for 9. Andy Marchant and Jonathan Ball did their best for the visitors, scoring 42 and 64 respectively but the bowling plaudits went to Lee Fazackerley (3-54) and Sam Cliff (3-48). This result leaves Welbeck 34 points off the top and Belvoir climb off bottom spot and open up a 16 point lead over Kiveton Park.



Kiveton had a tough day the office when they suffered a 147 run loss at home to Clifton; the visitors batted first and racked up 333 for declared in 45 overs with runs on the board for James Taylor (86), Martin Weightman (64*), Richard Harris (57) and Liam Andrews (41). The declaration gave the leaders 55 overs to get ten wickets but in the event they needed fewer than 42 as Kiveton subsided for 186. James Bullivant (41) and Rob Coxon (30) were the only batsman to make significant contributions with Tom Lungley taking 4-26 for Clifton, who now head the table by 29 points.

West Indian Cavaliers are the side in second, a position they achieved after a 4 wicket win away at Wollaton. In another high-scoring game, the home side posted 254 for 7 largely due to a battling ton from skipper Ed Savill. His 107 was lent solid support by Rhys Owen with 69; the Cavaliers leading bowler was former England ace Alex Tudor with 3-49. It turned out to be an excellent day for Tudor who struck 78 in the Cavs response but the star of the show yet again was Usman Afzaal who struck his third league ton of the season, seeing his side home with an unbeaten 132 that included 18 fours and three sixes. Ben Savage was the leading Wollaton bowler taking 4-55.

Kimberley sit in fourth just seven points behind Welbeck after a 4 wicket victory away at Mansfield Hosiery Mills; the home side batted first and rattled along to 271 for 6 with strong performances from three of their most reliable batters; Gareth Curtis with 86, Paul Burdett 72 and Mark Smallwood 42. Paul Riley was the leading Kimberley bowler with 3 for 54. The visitors overcame this target in 48.2 overs thanks 76 from Andrew Platts and 52 from Nick Langford. Riley rounded off a good day by seeing Kimberley home with 47 not out.



The Nottinghamshire Academy travelled to Cuckney and came home with a 16 point draw in yet another day for the batsmen; the county side batted first on winning the toss and went to tea with 276 for nine on the board. Tome Rowe and Sam Kelsall continued their good form with 71 and 53 and the returning Hassan Azad breezed to 55 at more than a run a ball. Cuckney bounced back well from their loss last week in the Twenty20 competition and got to within 14 runs of their target for the loss of 6 wickets; Adam Burgess struck 78 and skipper Richard Stroh 82 but Brett Hutton help to get the draw for the Academy, taking 3-58.

The final game of the day was not such a free-scoring match as Papplewick travelled to Caythorpe and were handed a 6 wicket thumping; the visitors batted first but were skittled for just 141 in 45 overs with Steve Randall doing most of the damage with 5-25 from 10 overs. Only Alex Lloyd’s 28 got anywhere near a decent score. Caythorpe scampered to their win in just 24.1 overs with Ben Phillips again going well with the bat with an unbeaten 73 and Steve Allcoat enjoyed his day, grabbing 42 to go along with his four catches. 



Ian Smith