Roll Royce lost their unbeaten record as well as the lead in the Nottinghamshire Premier League when they fell to a 76 run defeat at Caythorpe, only to see Cuckney move into pole position despite only managing a winning draw at Birchover Park against the West Indian Cavaliers.
Rolls Royce skipper Dan Birch opted to field first and both home openers had gone with the score on just 25 but Darren Bicknell (65) and Steve Allcoat (52) put on 107 for the third wicket and this propelled Cuckney to a score of 196 for nine from an innings shortened to 49 overs by the rain.
Adam Shepherd, Liam Andrews and Mathew Roberts each took a brace of wickets with Roberts’ figures of 2-18 standing out.
Birch has had a mediocre season with the bat by his high standards and that continued when he fell first ball in the chase and Caythorpe continued to take regular wickets and the leaders were never up with the chase.
They were dismissed for just 120 inside 44 overs with Tim Haines (3-31) and Jim Hindson (3-32) leading the attack.
Cuckney had the better of a draw with the Cavaliers after being bowled out for 233 in 48.3 overs. Usman Afzaal (4-57) and Ata-ur Rehman (3-50) did most of the damage and Tom Ullyott (59), Neville Talbot (40) and Billy Root (36) scoring the majority of the champions’ runs.
Akhil Patel scored an important 71 at the top of the Cavs order but when he was fifth out with the score on 167, the name of the game became survival and Dominic Williamson’s unbeaten 30 was the key and they finished on 205-7 a result that see the Cavaliers remain in third but 31 points behind the leaders.
Mansfield Hosiery Mills are in fourth place after a 125 run victory away at Papplewick. The home side elected to field first and that decision back-fired as they leaked 283 runs for the loss of six wickets.
Tom New scored 86 from 93 balls and brother Matt chipped in with 63, supported by Sudesh Fernando with 44.
The Papplewick bowling attack has been their weaker suit this season but this time their batting failed and they were bundled out for 158 in 43 overs; Matt Wright, Kyle Garside, Fernando and Matt New each grabbed a pair of wickets with only Doug Morton’s innings of 56 showing any resistance.
The Nottinghamshire Academy are slowly finding some form and they recorded their third win of the season when they defeated Clifton by six wickets at Lady Bay. The visitors were another side that were dismissed for a below par score when they fell for 122 inside 46 overs.
It was a good day for the county side’s left-armers as Luke Wood grabbed 3-29 and Adam Tillcock 3-25. They only needed 23 overs to reach their target – Hassan Azad (42 not out) and Tom Rowe (38) put on 65 for the second wicket and despite two late wickets, they eased to victory.
Plumtree got back to winning ways with a comprehensive seven wicket win at home against Kimberley after stand-in skipper Matt Wood called right for the home side and presided over an effort that saw their opponents dismissed for just 146 in 47.2 overs.
Dom Brown (47) and Jon Terry (40) were the only batters to put in solid performances and 17 left-arm seamer Ed Hodgson had his best NPL return with figures of 4-18 from nine overs with Mohsin Qayyum and Matt Milnes each taking two.
Plumtree got off to a poor start when David Bedingham was run out for one but Sam Storey (53 not out), Joe Tetley (30) and Matt Wood (40) all made solid contributions to achieve their target with more than 15 overs to spare.
The final game of the day saw Welbeck secure a winning draw against Farnsfield at Sookholme. The home side were dismissed from the penultimate ball of their allotted 50 overs for 204.
This score seemed some way off when they lost their seventh wicket for 72 but Ollie Pringle (86 from 87 balls) batted well with the lower order, putting on 79 with David Hunt (39) and 52 with Rich Bentley (13).
Osama Alam led the Farnsfield attack with figures of 4-59. Farnsfield were another side to regularly lose wickets in their innings and they ended up 29 short on 175 for eight though Matthew Sisson (34) again batted well with Curtis Mitchell (33) providing support. Rob French recorded Welbeck’s best figures with 4-57 from his 15 over spell.