In a day ravaged once again by rain, with matches between Mansfield Hosiery Mills and Ordsall Bridon, Welbeck Colliery and the NCB Academy and West Indian Cavaliers and Cuckney all cancelled without a ball being bowled, both Clifton Village and Rolls Royce Leisure spotted a chance to go top.
The clash between the 2nd and 3rd placed sides was nominally reduced to 35 overs a side. The home side won the toss and asked their visitors to bat but Rolls lost two quick wickets to bring Shaun Levy and Dan Birch together.
The pair added 75 for the third wicket before Birch fell for 46, with the score on 85. Levy followed soon after, as Tim Le Breton and Shreyas Iyer ended their innings in a flurry of wickets, Rolls finishing 120 all out in the 33rd over and Le Breton taking 4-28 and Iyer 4-29.
Due to the lateness of the match start, Clifton knew they would likely end up in a “timed” game, and so it would prove. In their efforts to chase down the victory target they lost wickets regularly, with only Le Breton (39) able to provide any stickability. The innings ended after 29 overs at 8pm as they game was abandoned, with Clifton 113 for seven, just eight runs shy of victory. Matthew Roberts taking 3-21 as Rolls took 10 points and Clifton 11, leaving the Villagers just five points behind Cuckney in 2nd spot.
At Plumtree, visiting Kimberley Institute skipper Sam Ogrizovic won the toss and invited his hosts to bat. The hosts made a solid start, and aided by a stand of 50 between David Bedingham and Joe Tetley reached 122 for two. From here the push to add quick runs saw a number of wickets fall, and the innings closed after 35 overs with Plumtree 163 for eight, Tetley ending unbeaten on 56. For the Institute, Chris Glover claimed four victims at the cost of 34 runs from his 10 overs.
In reply, Kimberley made a solid start reaching 48 before the first wicket fell. From there though wickets would fall at a fairly regular pace and at 108 for seven, Plumtree must have fancied their chances of a win. However a belligerent 43 not out from George Bacon led the rear guard as the away side held out for a draw and seven points. The 17 points secured by Plumtree lifted them to third in the table, 11 points behind leaders Cuckney.
In the days other game, Caythorpe captain James Hawley won the toss and elected to have his hosts, Radcliffe-on-Trent bat first. As their hosts fell to 33 for two, this looked like a good choice, but stand-in captain Robert Sutton (42) and former Caythorpe bat, Josh Mierkalns (58), combined in an 85 run stand that turned the game around.
Radcliffe pushed on and were all out with one ball remaining, having totalled 169. James Hindson taking 6-42, his second 6 wicket haul of the season. In reply, Caythorpe never got going, finding themselves 17 for three on the way to 79 for six. Jim Hindson and Richard Beaumont were able to see out the final 10 overs to deny Radcliffe a first win of the season, but the home side’s 16 points are their first positive result of the season and lift them out of the bottom two.
Caythorpe, for whom Extras (30) top scored took seven points and remain in 6th place.