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The first round of the Royal London Club Championship was concluded over the weekend and round one saw many batting highlights, superb bowling figures, and very tight finishes across the country.
The highlight of the round has to be the performance of Liam Livingstone for Nantwich in Cheshire in their match against Caldy. Livingstone’s incredible score of 350 in Nantwich’s 579 for seven is one of the highest one-day scores in history and should rightly be applauded, as should a very young and inexperienced Caldy side who never gave up throughout the game.
There were also two double centurions in round one with Neil Longhurst hitting 252 for Whitley Hall of the South Yorkshire League in their 233-run win over Goole Town, and Ryan Sylvester‘s unbeaten 205 for Ynysygerwn as the South Wales Premier League side beat Gloucester City Winget by 246 runs.
Spare a thought for Gurpej Landa who scored 142 and took two wickets for his Attenborough side, making their debut in the competition and playing Plumtree. Attenborough's 268 for six, however, was chased down by Plumtree with four wickets left, in a thrilling final-over finish.
WATCH what @liaml4893 has had to say after hitting World Record innings of 350 for @NantwichCC yesterday - https://t.co/yrVMRKTMJ4
— Lancashire CCC (@LancsCCC) April 20, 2015
There were 23 centuries hit in the first round but the batsmen did not have it all their own way as there was some impressive bowling on display as well.
The highlight came in a losing cause from Old Hill’s Nigel Davenport who took career-best figures of 7-22 as they bowled out fellow Birmingham League side Walmley for 209. However, the visitors came out on top as Old Hill only reached 169 for nine.
Harmeet Singh Panny helped his Osterley team to an easy victory, with figures of 6-26 seeing Eastcote dismissed for just 95 in a seven-wicket win.
There were 11 additional five-wicket hauls in the round, the best of which was Matthew Bowman’s 5-8 as he mopped up the tail to swing the game Stockton’s way. The North East Premier League side, all out for 195, saw opposition Whitburn go from 105 for five to 125 all out, Bowman taking the last five wickets.
It wasn’t all about massive scores and lots of wickets - there were some very close finishes as well.
There were two tied matches, the first in Somerset where North Petherton and Shapwick & Polden were both dismissed for 114, with North Petherton progressing due to runs countback.
In West London, Uxbridge and Hampstead tied on 200, but Hampstead progressed by virtue of only losing nine wickets while Uxbridge were all out.
South Yorkshire League side Treeton enjoyed a one-run win against Yorkshire Premier’s Cleethorpes. After being dismissed for 205, Treeton restricted Cleethorpes to 204 for eight from their 45 overs which saw three late run outs in a frantic finish.
A full list of all of the results, player statistics in the competition and fixtures for the second round, which is being played on Sunday, May 10, can be found on the Royal London Club Championship Play-Cricket pages at ecb.play-cricket.com.
