Individual shows not enough for Stony
Northants Cricket League round-up
For the fifth time this season last wicket drama did not produce a victory for Stony Stratford in the Premier Division.
A well-paced ton from the classy Dion Ebrahim and a six-wicket haul by Steven Bellew were not enough to give Stony the points at Wollaston.
Stony won the toss and elected to bat on a warm, sunny day in Northants. But openers John Lambe and Nick Allen were back in the pavilion by just the third over, courtesy of some good bowling from Max Abbot.
Ebrahim and Nathan Hawkes began to recover the Stony innings, but the latter was soon unfortunate to perish to a good catch. Greame Carter was adjudged lbw for three and stony were looking to head for a collapse.
Jarrod Pretorious joined the skipper and recovered the stony innings with an impressive 28 before being caught behind, after they put on a 70-run partnership and steadied the stony ship.
Paul West (41) brought the long handle to the opposition and stepped up the run rate.
Ebrahim proved his class and held the innings well to reach his century – he was undefeated on 120 with 14 fours and three huge sixes to his name as Stony finished in a good position on 236-7.
Wollaston started their reply badly as both openers fell to Bellew with less than 10 runs on the board.
Hart and Ralph steadied the innings, with Hark recording a quick half century before being caught brilliantly by Carter off the bowling of Bellew.
Ralph eventually went on 54 and at that stage it looked like the visitors were well on top, although the run-rate was more than required.
A patient knock from Jones (27) nudged the Wollaston total towards the winning mark. Bellew added three more wickets in his second spell to take his tally to a very impressive 6-56.
But despite his superb efforts, Pike (23) and Perry (34 not out) saw the hosts home in the last over with one wicket hanging.
It was another day of final over drama, with Stony slipping to their fourth defeat in eight game as they remain third from bottom of the Premier Division table.
There were encouraging signs with the bat though, not least Ebrahim's effort of 120 unbeaten.
And Stony have the perfect chance to collect just their second win of the season when they welcome basement side Desborough Town on Saturday.
Raunds are crushed
On A fine summer's afternoon at Ostler's Lane, second bottom Stony 2nds took on basement side Raunds Town in a must win Division Three clash.
Stony opened the batting and Swain and Nelly started off very slowly with just nine off the first nine overs.
But by the time Nelly fell for 14 the score had progressed to 54. Swain was next to go for a steady 43, soon followed by Unders for 15, Bolton for six and Jethra for eighth.
Canwell looked impressive for his 24 but when he fell Stony were in a tricky spot at 122-6.
Fortunately it was time for the Tate and Osborne show as some devastating blows from both saw the score move quickly up to 168 before Osborne fell for 30.
Tate continued to score freely but soon after bringing up his maiden half century for the club he went for one big shot too many and was caught for 51.
Khan (10 not out) and Preston (nine not out) pushed Stony up to 226-8 before the hosts declared with two overs to go.
The Raunds reply didnt get off to the best of starts, with wickets for Elemore, Canwell and Khan saw the visitors limp to 34-5.
A partnership was needed and Lack (72) and Beaumont (39) gave the visitors hope. It took a double wicket over from Tate and some accurate bowling from Jethra to leave Raunds nine down with10 overs remaining.
And Khan made sure of the win in the 43rd over, Raunds finally dismissed for 177.
Wicken remain top after narrow loss
Wicken remain clear at the top of Division Five despite losing by nine runs to nearest rivals West Haddon.
In a thrilling match Deep Kumar saw off West Haddon opener Bruce Kain for just six but Neil Humphrey (81) soon got them back on track as they went on to record 286-9, Shaun Abbott taking 3-17.
After losing Liam Wright for just five, Wicken saw their chase get off to a strong start as Brendan Pollard fired 64 and Ian Roberts 70, backed up 47 from Michael Ratcliffe and 55 from Abbott.
But when Kumar fell for just two, the Wicken lower-order then started to collapse and the last four wickets went for just 17 runs as Wicken fell short on 277.
In Division Nine Wicken 2nds (138 all out) were on the wrong end of a 184-run thrashing by Oundle Town (322-7).
>> Wicken played their annual 40 overs 'Ashes' match against Wicken from Cambridgeshire, the sixth time the sides have met.
Playing at Chippenham, the hosts won the toss and elected to bat.
Frank Digman (49) and Josh Pope (29) got the Cambs side off to a good start with a partnership of 70.
Skipper Abbott hit a credible 39. before the visiting bowlers of Tim Wright (2-18) and Farley Mohamed (2-32) calmed the rest of the innings which finished on a respectable 191-8.
In reply the Northants side lost their first three wickets quickly and were on the back foot at 33-3.
Teenage hitter Wright steadied the ship with a glorious 81 not out, aided by Pradeep Indrakumar (61) and Chris Horne (14 not out) hitting the winning runs to see the visitors home at 192-5 off 34 overs.
The man of the match award went to Wright.
The Northants side now lead the series 3-2, with one match tied.
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Weather for Milton Keynes
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: -6 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 5 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North west
