South Nottinghamshire Cricket League

Gunn and Moore South Notts Cricket League & Raleigh Cup Final Report Saturday 5^th September 2009

By Phil Johnson

Back in late May, a defeat to neighbours Hucknall left Rolls Royce Leisure languishing in the bottom two in B. Add to this problems off the field and it had been a nightmare start for new skipper Jason Gorman. Fast forward to last weekend and a victory over Kimberley II, their tenth in eleven games meant Rolls were promoted thus completing an incredible turnaround.

Kimberley batted first and to their credit batted really well as for once the Rolls attack failed to deliver. Craig Pitts, who has enjoyed success as an opener this season fired a typical belligerent 90 in 86 balls although being dropped three times helped his cause. There were runs too for Dominic Wheatley (29) and Prabhdip Sidhu (25) in the top order and Kimberley posted their highest total of the season (203).

Kimberley were well in the game after tea with a couple of early wickets for Steve Bennett but they were rocked by a partnership between Jason Gorman (32) and Saleem Karim (76) who had been promoted to opener following his success in the Spencer Cup. When Karim departed, one of the first acts that new bat Arslan Shah carried out was to run skipper Gorman out. However, Shah (30*) made up for his misdemeanour by seeing  his side home to a five wicket victory.

The other game in B saw Hyson Green Caribs richly wrap up the title with a 31 run win over Hucknall. Batting first, there were runs early doors for Zaheer Ahmed (48) but the champions were again indebted to keeper Suhail Ahmed (33) late on to aid the recovery from 107 for 7.

Chasing 184 to win, Hucknall were well set at one stage being 113 for 3 with Scott Harris (42) and Adam Brown (38) going well. However the change bowlers of Zaheer Ahmed (3 for 28) and the unorthodox Taufseer Shah (3 for 25) triggered a collapse.

There was still plenty to play for in C with Plumtree II requiring 15 points for promotion. They were up against a Hickling side who needed points for a very different reason, ten to be precise to avoid relegation. However a woeful batting performance from Hickling saw them post just 110 with only Australian Wayne Daniell (44) troubling the scorers. Paul Kelly (5 for 34) was the chief destroyer although he received good support from Dave Sumner (3 for 5) and Rob Smith (2 for 44). After the interval, an unbeaten 63 from Paul White sealed both sides fate.

Despite a recent blip in form, a win for Beeston and Toton Sycamore in G over relegation threatened Ravenshead would mean promotion. However, Beeston suffered a disaster with the bat being bowled out for 52 with Julian Tadd taking four wickets. Ravenshead knocked the runs off with few alarms which mean East Leake have come from virtually nowhere to grab the second promotion slot.

Victory for Ravenshead meant that West Bridgford Legion had to win at Gotham II to survive. However they could only manage a poor 115 and despite a good effort in the field, and in particular from Rob Rhodes (4 for 21) the relegation trapdoor opened.

There were two other promotions confirmed in the lower leagues, firstly in N where five wickets for S Mohammed and four for young Jack Hayes ensured a 31 run win for Wymeswold II over Ashby Hastings III (146). Whilst in P, five wickets for Hoveringham II’s John Houghton went a long way to ensuring their five wicket win at relegated Unity Casuals III (135).

RALEIGH CUP FINAL

In a game fitting of a higher level, Hoveringham added the Raleigh Cup to a seventh successive promotion. However they were made to fight all the way following a commendable effort from lower league side Unity Casuals II.

Hoveringham won the toss and elected to bat first and after Ben Lee (24) had departed when looking well set Stuart Walton took command and hit an impressive 90 excelling in drives. There was a little cameo at the end from keeper Mark Melbourn and the innings closed on 222. For Unity it was a struggle at times in the field but credit Amir Shariff and Joe Jani for picking up a couple of wickets apiece.

There seemed little danger of a contest at one stage with Unity plodding on to 75 for 3 after 25 overs in reply. However the game changed once Brian Baptiste strode to the crease. Baptiste struck a superb 65 and what’s more he got 15 year old Neil Patel to come out of his shell. The pair played brilliantly, but with 60 required off 8 overs, Baptiste took one risk too many and Ben Lee held on to a stunner of a catch at long off. Patel reached his fifty but a mix up led to him being run out by Melbourn. With the rate increasing, the last few overs were carnage with a further four run outs as Unity fell 14 runs short. All in all a great days entertainment with Stuart Walton bring presented the man of the match.