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Sunday, August 16th, 2009
PREMIER DIVISION REVIEW 15th AUGUST 2009
Little Stoke now hold a very decent 18 point lead at the top of the table after they won at Burslem and Knypersely suffered a surprise defeat in the Moorlands derby at home to relegation-threatened Leek.
Dan Colclough continued an excellent season with a five wicket haul as only Khalid Malik (46) put up any real resistance in the home sides’ total of just 122.The visitors and league leaders wasted no time in knocking off the required runs as George Cairns hit a second successive half-century as Little Stoke took just over 28 overs to reach their target.
Leek demolished championship-chasing Knypersley by a massive 141 runs in a massive turn-up for the odds. Batting first, Lee’s pro, South African Robin Peterson top-scored with 48 in Leek’s 189-9 declared, and then evergreen seamer was once again in top form with the ball as his superb 6-24, backed-up by three wickets for Peterson, shot-out the home side for a meagre 48.
The results still doesn’t take Jamie Cullerton’s out of the relegation places as Leycett pulled off another shock to put a huge dent in Porthill’s title-winning dreams.
They would have been mightily relieved to cross the finishing line though by a solitary wicket in a low-scoring game at the Old County Ground. Veteran seamer Richard White (6-64) was in prime form for the visitors as Porthill were dismissed for 131.
And it took a superb and possibly season-changing unbeaten 61 from Richard Walker, to see Ian Boulton’s side home in the face of excellent bowling from Fazl Akbar who took 6 wickets. Leycett are now out of the bottom two but only by 3 points.
Reigning champions Moddershall are now bottom and were clinging on at the end against fellow strugglers Hem Heath. John Cheadle’s invaluable 90 not out saw the visitors to a respectable total of 174, and Mo Hussain’s six wickets looked like earning a precious win for Double H, but Chris Beech’s half century saw Moddershall to safety at 130-8.
Longton missed the chance to close the gap significantly on the top two, by losing away at improving Stone. Jimmy Dawson struck a superb 111 for Stone as they totalled 225-5, receiving good support from Phil Cheadle.
Tom Birks 46, Mike Longmore 45, Roger Sillence 45, and Danny Cumming 35 all scored well for the visitors, but Stone pro Qaiser Abbas’ seven wicket haul saw his team home by just 8 runs in a superb game.
Audley had by far the better of their rain-affected local derby against Wood Lane, but had to settle for a draw after having their rivals nine wickets down at the death. Solid scoring throughout the Audley innings saw them to a decent total of 193, despite the best efforts of Steve Norcup who took a five wicket haul.
In reply, U. Govender (4-44) and Chris Barker (4-19) had the home side in all sorts of trouble until they limped to a draw on 110-9.
