Saturday

The first team travelled to Spondon who at the start of the day were 8 points in front in 2nd place. Losing the toss and batting first provided a few problems early on but openers Dave Adams and Jonny Shales worked hard and put on 100 for the first wicket. After 30 overs the total was only about 100 and some injection was needed to push the total to a competitive one on the small ground.

Shales started to push along but then fell for a good 66, With wickets in hand and 16 overs to go the middle order were free to play their shots. Dave Adams (79 not out) remained to keep one end ticking along and Andy Goodwin managed to push the score along very quickly in the last 10 overs ending up on 105 not out including 8 6's. A score of 303 was posted, but it was always going to be very hard to bowl out a side on the flattest of wickets.

Spondon started well but we managed to chip away at wickets to break partnerships with Danny Gough (2), Dave Mudd, Will Chapman and Andy Goodwin sharing the wickets. Spondon managed to get over the score of 253 to get them another point which meant there was only 7 points gained for us, not enough to take us above Spondon.

Staveley in 4th position before the day managed to beat West Hallam to leapfrog both us and Spondon into 2nd place. There is now only 5 points seperating Staveley in 2nd to us in 4th.

The seconds faced Derby Congs at home in a game that they needed to win to get clear of the relegation fight. Opener Ben Bridgen (69) and number 3 Rich Green (44) batted well to set up a good base but the rest of the order could not accelerate the scoring and 213 was a little below what could have been scored.

13 year old Brett Byrd bowled well early and was suppoted by Sean Green and Paul Dawson but they could not put the opposition under enough pressure and the went past the total with 3 overs left and 5 wickets in hand.

The fourths at home to Castle Donnington managed to go past the first team score and post 304-7. John Clement with 100, supported by Dave Stock (33), Olly Baum (47) and Dave Bridgen (39).

Castle Donnington never got close but wickets were of a premium and only 5 were managed to be taken as they ended on 145-5.

Sunday

After losing last week to West Hallam in the league the semi final was always going to be tough and batting first was hard work to start with. After 20 overs the score was 58-3 and when the 4th wicket fell soon after a low score was looking on.

Steve Gough then came in and joined Dave Hartley who proceeded to run us back into the game with some very quick singles. They put on a partnership of 76 to give us a chance of scoring 200 and with contributions from George Chapman, Dave Mudd and then 14 off the last over from Ady Shales took the score past 200 to 201. A good score on a difficult wicket.

Danny Gough took 2 wickets in his first spell to remove both openers and then Jonny Shales removed the dangerous Ogilvie to put West Hallam behind the game. Will Chapman bowled 8 very good overs for no reward and then it was the turn of the spinners to win us the game. Just as they were looking to accelerate Andy Goodwin (4-21) and George Chapman (3-19) took 7 wickets between them to eventually bowl them out for 136.

Related Links:
League Tables 2003