Knypersley reclaimed top spot after a comfortable win at Leek in the battle of the Moorlands’ teams.
Chasing Leek’s 169-9 (Keith Stoute 58, Andy Marshall 4-34, Yogesh Golwalker 3-58), Knypersley cruised to a seven wicket victory thanks to a superb partnership between in-form Staffs captain Paul Goodwin (71 no) and the veteran Ross Salmon (36 no).
Knypersley are now 3 points in front of Longton who had the upper hand in a winning draw at home to bottom-placed Stone. At 81-7, chasing Longton’s 227-9, Stone looked to be heading for defeat before a superb unbeaten 62 from Joe Smith helped the visitors to close on 186-8, with James Dawson contributing a half-century and Longton’s Dan Cumming taking four wickets.
Earlier, Longton’s total was based around professional Roger Sillence’s 56 and solid knocks from Mick Longmore and Pete Wilshaw. Visiting pro Charles Shreck was the pick of the Stone attack with 6-75.
Hem Heath moved into mid-table with a tense win at home to struggling reigning champions Moddershall. The visitors struggled to 166-7 from their 60 overs with only Chris Beech’s half-century making any headway against Mo Hussain whow as again in the wickets for the home side (4-53).
Despite M Jahingirs’ four wickets, ‘Double H’ reached their target for the loss of eight wickets thanks mainly to Lee Ridgeway’s 52 not out.
It’s three wins on the bounce for Porthill as they won away at a Leycett side who are competing well in most games but losing narrowly.
The home side were all out for 178 with visiting pro Fazl Akbar once more in excellent form with 6-53. Rob Heath batted well for his 45. Porthill were soon struggling at 32-3, but Dean Pritchard’s 54 was the mainstay of the innings and they won by two wickets despite Dan Redfearn’s 3-44.
Little Stoke hammered visitors Burslem to move into third spot. Their total of 227-9 was built around an unbeaten century from Richard Adams and 55 from Richard Harvey. In response, Burslem were skittled for just 83 with Dan Colclough taking the superb figures of 5-11. Only Alex Bailey with 31 put up any resistance.
Wood Lane won away at Audley in their local derby game to move just behind their neighbours in the league table. Audley’s 205-8 was built around a fine half-century from Sean Price, but Dan Brierley continued his excellent form with the bat for the visitors, and his 60 ensured that Wood Lane completed a relatively untroubled four wicket victory.
Longton are the new leaders of the Premier Division after a day of low scoring. Pete Wilshaw’s men are 13 points clear of Burslem after a nailbiting two wicket win at Wood Lane.
Dave Edwards with 6-51 was the destroyer-in-chief for Longton, and assisted by 3-44 from professional Roger Silence, Wood Lane were bowled out for 146. Dan Brierley was top scorer with 45, and M Bashir’s 4-52 made the visitors sweat until Tom Mellor with 37 not out ensured twenty points for Longton and top spot.
Burslem came unstuck at home to lowly Hem Heath in a shock 37 run defeat.Hem Heath’s total of 113 didn’t look anywhere near enough, but an inspired five wicket haul from all-rounder Darren Sanders turned the tide Double H’s way, and led to an invaluable 25 point haul for the Trentham Lakes outfit.
Mo Hussain top-scored with 30 but Michael Brown’s six wickets looked to have given the home side another victory, but Sanders was in devastating form with the ball alongside Hussain who once more contributed well with the ball.
Previous leaders Knypersley were rolled over for 96 at home to Audley for whom Paul Johnson took 6-20 and Andy Johnson 3-9. Although Dan Hancock and Andy Marshal both took 3 wickets apiece, the visitors chased down their target for the loss of six wickets.
Leycett remain bottom of the pile but put in a spirited effort in their four run defeat at Little Stoke. Batting first Richard Harvey, Gareth Morris and Nick Bratt all made solid contributions for Little Stoke’s 195-7 declared, with Rob Heath being the pick of the Leycett attack with 3-62.
In reply, despite 42 from both Tas Hussain and Dinesh Darshanapriya, Morris completed an excellent all-round match with 4-32.
For the second week runningFaizl Akbar was in inspirational form for Porthil. This week it was Stone’s turn to feel the force as Akbar took a five wicket haul in shooting the home side out for a paltry 66. Mark Bengry provided excellent back-up with 4-35.
Porthill strolled to an eight wicket win in a game which only lasted for 58 overs in total.
Bowlers were on top in the Premier Leagues’ remaining game where reigning champions Moddershall beat Leek by 49 runs.
Richard Cooper and Kevin Stoute took all 10 wickets for Leek and it looked a formality that the visitors would win after bowling out ‘Modd’ for just 104. But they hadn’t counted on the home professional Rangana Herath who took 5-16 as Jamie Cullerton’s men were skittled for just 55.
On a rain-affected day, PorthillPark were the only team to take advantage of the shortened games, to record a much-needed victory, at home to Wood Lane. Elsewhere, teams had to settle for a draw and the sanctuary of a warm and dry dressing room, as once again the British weather put paid to what could have been a number of close matches.
A remarkable early finish at Porthill saw Wood Lane skittled for just 49 runs in 17.3 overs, in just over an hour and a half. Matt Hagan’s side had no answer to the duel threat of opening bowlers Richard Atkins and professional Fazl Akbar who snared all ten Wood Lane wickets between them in a devastating display of seam and swing bowling.
Opening bowler Akbar was once again in outstanding form and returned the superb figures of 6-19 whilst Atkins proved more than useful support at the other end, his 4- 29 ensuring the home side were left with an easy run chase for victory.
Porthill took just 16.4 overs to knock of the required runs for the loss of two wickets to gain 20 valuable points and to move out of the relegation places to fourth from bottom. Wood Lane are still in a comfortable mid-table position and will surely be looking for a better batting display next weekend.
High-flying Burslem almost snatched an unlikely win at Highfields, as host club Leek were left hanging on for a draw in a game reduced to 82 overs. Batting first, Burslem declared on a useful 180-5 after 48 overs, mainly thanks to an excellent sixth wicket partnership between professional Samullah Khan (80 not out) and Andrew Hurd (31 not out).
In reply, Jmie Cullerton’s side lost wickets at regular intervals and were left claiming just a solitary batting point after staggering to 85-7 from 34 overs. Spinner Ant Sheeran was the pick of the bowlers with 3-6 and Burslem’s 10 point haul sees them in second position and only one point behind leaders Knypersely, who had a losing draw away to Longton in an early-season top of the table clash.
Batting first, veteran Ross Salmon hit a superb 84 not out, and he was backed up by in-form Staffordshire and Knypersley captain Paul Goodwin (36) in allowing the visitors to declare on a commanding 201-8 from 58 overs.
Longton scored at a brisk pace throughout their reply and in their allotted 31 overs reached a commendable 145-5, with captain Pete Wilshaw leading the way with a powerful and boundary-laden 77, backed by professional Roger Silence with a fluent 42. Longton’s 9 points see them just now just 2 points behind the leaders at the top of a very tight Premier Division, with Kynpersley leading the division by a single point.
Leycett remain at the foot of the table, but had the better of their shortened game at home to visiting Stone. Ian Boulton’s men were left only 37 runs adrift of their target with five wickets still in hand in a game reduced to 97 overs.Stone found runs difficult to come by and were eventually bowled out for 159 in their final over, this after being 54-6. Russ Ballard and John McCreadie sharing a partnership of 79 to give Stone something to bowl at.
Despite having almost 20 overs less than their opponents due to the weather, Leycett made good progress towards their target with Richard Walker making an unbeaten 41, but had to eventually settle for closing on 113-5. Their 9 point haul takes them only 1 point adrift of Hem Heath and closes the gap on those hovering above the relegation zone. It’s now as tight at the bottom of the table as it is at the top.
The redoubtable Mo Hussain made light of the bedlam and noise emanating from the nearby Britannia Stadium in another excellent showing from the Hem Heath professional. After inserting visitors Little Stoke, Hussain proved as difficult to get away as ever and his 3-35 was scant reward for another excellent bowling performance as Little Stoke struggled hard for runs at TrenthamLakes.
The visitors total owed much to the work of the in-form Dan Hancock who made a well-constructed 60 on a slow-paced wicket, and he was ably backed by veteran seamer Nick Bratt who made 30.
In reply, Hussain was also in good nick with the bat and made a brisk 52, but ‘Double H’ closed at 102-5 in 35 overs after another tight spell from Nick Bratt had kept the run rate down. The game was evenly poised, with the home side needing around 4 runs an over and with the in-form Darren Sanders next in to bat, and the visitors requiring five more wickets for victory. Hem Heath picked up a welcome 7 points and Richard Harvey’s men pocketed a handful of points and remain in mid-table.
Audley’s Richard Holloway was the star batting performer on a bowler-dominated day in the Premier Division. Holloway was the only player in the top division to hit a century, and his superb 108 was the mainstay of Audley’s 219-5 declared against visiting champions Moddershall. Useful backup was provided by Rangana Herath with 38.
The reigning champions’ reply was shortened to 31 overs and in that time reached 131-5 to gain a winning draw. U Govender was the pick of the home attack with 3-50.
