Mansield's Sudesh Fernando got 124no

League-leaders Clifton maintained their top spot with a comprehensive 8 wicket victory over Caythorpe at the Clifton Oval; the home side won the toss and chose to field first and this decision paid off handsomely when they bowled out Caythorpe for 143 in 42 overs. Adam Shepherd and Tom Lungley did the damage returning figures of 4-36 and 3-30 respectively; only Josh Mierkalns managed to make a significant contribution for the bat for the visitors by scoring 78. The home side raced to victory in 22 overs for the loss of just two wickets with Liam Andrews (47 not out) and skipper Richard Harris (36 not out) seeing them home.

West Indian Cavaliers are in second and also scored a 20 point victory when they travelled to Kiveton Park and won the game without really breaking sweat. The visitors won the toss and asked bottom club Kiveton to have first knock and dismissed them for 69 inside 30 overs; the Cavs bowling attack showed their test match class with Alex Tudor grabbing 3 for 21 and Saqlain Mushtaq 3 for 6. This was another game that ended swiftly when the Cavaliers overcame their meagre target in 14.1 overs for the loss of just two wickets with Mushtaq enjoying his day by scoring 33 not out. 

Third-placed Welbeck Colliery could not quite make it a hat-trick of wins at the top of the table but they did secure a winning draw at home to Cuckney. The home side batted first and were dismissed in exactly 50 overs for 239 with key contributions from Rob French (76), Guy Darwin (63) and Jonathan Ball (38). Cuckney’s bowling attack was led by Luke Wood who grabbed 3-37 and skipper Richard Stroh who took 3-73. The visitors made a good fist of their response but ended up on 220 for 7 thanks to strong bowling performances from Ball (3-61) and Richie Bentley (3-52). Stroh had a good day in scoring 55, supported Lucas Carlisle with 34 and Adam Burgess 37.



Kimberley could not quite overcome Belvoir at home but did manage to secure a 17 point draw. The home side batted first and racked up 227 for the loss of nine wickets with Akhil Patel’s innings of 80 leading the way supported by 41 from Nick Langford. Belvoir’s Sam Cliff secured a season’s-best return of 5-62 with Darren Bicknell chipping in 3-39. The visitors have been putting in some stronger performances of late and this continued when they got within 27 runs of their target for the loss of 8 wickets to secure a draw. Bicknell continued his recent fine form with 62 with Jim Clayfield contributing 43 and Patel rounding off an excellent day personally with 4-50 for the home side.



The Nottinghamshire Academy overcame Wollaton at Lady Bay in another game that failed to go the distance; the visitors won the toss and batted first and struggled to find any fluency in scoring 178 for 8 in their 50 overs. Only Aussie Anthony Keeley showed mastery of the conditions in scoring 92. For the county side, there were two wickets each for Jake Ball, George Bacon and Adam Tillcock. The Academy only lost three wickets in overcoming their target inside 34 overs with Olly Swann hitting 91 not out and Michael Robson 33.

The final game was the highest-scoring of the day when Mansfield Hosiery Mills travelled to Papplewick; the visitors batted first and posted an impressive 290 for 5, their innings led by Sudesh Fernando’s 124 not out in just 100 balls with thirteen fours and four sixes. He was helped by 36 from KC Jayasinghe and 30 from Paul Burdett. Papplewick closed their innings on 224 for 7 with solid contributions from Alex Lloyd (48), Husnain Riaz (42*), Brad Matthews (39) and Mark Nelson (33). Fernando rounded off his day by returning 3-39 for the Millers.



Ian Smith

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