Cricket round-up July 8 - Bradwell on the wobble
Everything you need to know about the local cricket scene
Four Counties League
Division One
IT'S almost unheard of, but New Bradwell have indeed gone two weeks without a win, their humbling by Milton Keynes City on Saturday coming seven days after a 167-run crushing by North Crawley.
The league leaders remain so, but after a powerful effort by an improving City side, their lead over second placed Cublington has been significantly cut.
Hosts City raced to a mighty 273-5, and after struggling with their run chase a week earlier, Bradwell made a fist of it but could only muster 184-7 from their allotted overs.
While they were chasing runs Cubs were marching to a four-wicket success against Eaton Bray. A winning target of 170 was no match for the visitors who hit 171-6 in reply as the season reached its half-way point.
It looked like there might be some good news for struggling Newport Pagnell (207) after setting bottom half rivals Biddenham (208-5) a decent target, but nothing seems to be going their way at the moment and the away side ran out five-wicket winners.
Division Two
TABLE Toppers Milton Keynes (133) were stunned by Caddington (136-9) who earned a one-wicket win to help bridge the gap. Batting first Dharmesh Mistry (33) was the best of a pretty average bunch for MK, with the only support of note coming from Neil Gordon (24), before three of the bottom order chipped in with double figures.
Almost miraculously though their total of 133 was nearly good enough for victory as the visitors stumbled along. The hosts were on the brink of success until number eight Lee Mark came to the crease and fired off 19 unbeaten to give his side the points.
Old Bradwell are the nearest challengers to MK's top spot and they maintained their excellent run of late with a six-wicket win over an equally in-form Shenley Church End. The hosts made a rather disappointing 189 by their normal standards and Bradwell cruised home in relative ease on 192-4.
Elsewhere Olney (215-7) saw off an out of sorts New City (185) by 30 runs to put some distance between themselves and the three sides below them, while Cranfield University (170-5) were thrashed by Buckland & Aston Clinton (171-2) by eight wickets.
Division Three
WILLEN were the big winners in the third tier as they got back to winning ways with a comprehensive eight-wicket trouncing of basement boys Drayton Parslow.
The bottom side were dismissed for just 79 before the hosts cruised home on 80-2 to move back into third place in the table. Also moving in the right direction are New Bradwell 2nds who produced a scintillating batting performance before falling just short of bowling poor Wilden out to take maximum points.
Joel Langley (62no) was the pick of the Bradwell bunch as all six of their batsmen made in excess of 20 runs, Allen Bridgeman (36) and Ben Riches (33no) also worthy of note as they totalled 258-4.
Langley then did his bit with the ball as a spell of 3-44 had the visitors on the brink of defeat, but they held on with 193-8 to take home a share of the spoils. Open University (216-2) were the winners of their mid-table clash at Stoke Hammond (211-6), Sardar Ahmad's 77 not out helping OU to a comfortable eight-wicket win.
The other game saw second from bottom MK City 2nds (154-8) record something of a shock eight-wicket success over second from top Eggington Foresters (153).
Division Four
OLD Bradwell 2nds and Newport Pagnell 2nds continue to prop up the rest, and were on the end of further defeats in their latest outings, although both have a right to feel pretty hard done by.
Bradwell (218) fell agonisingly close to a third win of the season as they lost by two runs to Harlington (220-9) while Newport (185-8) simply ran out of overs in their tie at Ivinghoe & Pitstone (194), Terry Shrieves' 44 the highlight for them.
Division Five
OLNEY Town surrendered their place at the top after they crashed at home to New City 2nds and Eggington Foresters edged out Milton Keynes.
New City (103-3) made light work of the hosts' pretty dismal effort of 101 to score a seven-wicket victory while MK (189) slipped to fourth place, losing by 63 runs to the men from Foresters (252-7).
Robert Arnold's spectacular 135 not out helped Stony Stratford 4th (221-4) see off the challenge of Wing (220) by six wickets after Paul Brown (3-45) helped reduce the home side to an achievable target.
Division Six
BLETCHLEY Town 3nds (62) continued their slump towards the foot of the table, undone by Little Horwood (63-3) by seven wickets in their latest outing to forget.
Great Brickhill 3rds (34-1) had more than enough to thrash Buckland & Aston Clinton 2nds (33) by nine wickets as their batsmen were still having nightmares about Chris Hastings' devastating spell of 7-20 which saw them embarrassed.
But it's Wolverton Town 3rds (261-6) who still lead the way at the top of the table, their 172-run demolition of Totternhoe 2nds (89) making it six wins from 10.
Northants League
Premier Division
STONY Stratford finally recorded their first win of the season with a comprehensive 144 run win at basement side Wellingborough Town on Saturday, the visitors dominating from the first over to the last.
Stony captain Steve Bellew won the toss and decided to bat first in the heat and on a flat wicket. It was to prove a good decision as his side piled on the runs for the second successive week. Openers Garth Davson and Mitz Choksi are starting to form a very fluent partnership at the top of the order, and 10 runs came from the first over, setting the standard for the rest of the innings.
Choksi in particular was in fine form and he raced to a quick 35 to put on 50 in eight overs with Davson, before inexplicably risking a quick single with the ball behind the wicketkeeper to be comfortably run out.
Davson then went on to complete his own half century and with Dion Ebrahim kept the score going along at five an over with Stony on 140 from 25 overs. He fell lbw for 55 but with the wicket very flat and Wellingborough's attack struggling each of Stony's batsmen scored runs.
Ebrahim also completed a half century before a lapse in concentration saw him chip a catch to midwicket to fall for 55. But Stony have some depth to their batting and the middle order came good. Jarrod Pretorius put on a quick 20 with Nick Allen before Bellew joined vice captain Allen and the pair put on 50 in just five overs to push the score well over the 250 mark.
Bellew smashed 35 from 20 deliveries before holing out on the boundary, but Allen carried on unbeaten to the end, playing shots all round the wicket to finish unbeaten on 37, pushing his side on to 283-7.
Wellingborough chose to use the heavy roller on the wicket during the tea interval and with the surface rock hard, this only served to break up the pitch and aid the Stony bowlers.
Habib Ullah got the ball rolling for Stony, bowling with real pace and bounce to have the aggressive Marcus Andrew caught behind for 11 in the third over. Stony were targeting the key wicket of Boro opener Tim Coleman who holds the league record for runs in a season, and they were delighted when he dragged an attempted pull shot from Bellew back on to his stumps to depart for four in the fourth over.
Stony were buzzing now and the hosts' batting looked shaky under the pressure. Ullah added another wicket in a fine nine over opening spell that had the batsmen hopping around before young George Humphries claimed a fourth to put Stony firmly in command.
With the surface breaking up now, Stony turned to the spin of Ebrahim and he immediately grabbed the wicket of Alex Price for four. At 58-5, it was surely a matter of time before Stony wrapped things up.
An experienced Richard Curtis, batting at three, did his best to offer some resistance with a resilient 34, but as he was brilliantly caught by Allen at short gully off the bowling of Ebrahim, Boro fell to 60-6 and the game was almost up.
There was time for an exciting cameo of an innings from youngster James Howes, who crashed six 4s and four 6s on his way to 59. Bellew brought himself back into the attack to bowl left arm spin and was rewarded with the wicket of opposite number Karl Tapp lbw for no score, before Howes went for one big shot too many against the spin of Bellew (4-28) and top edged a catch to Ullah.
It was left to the skipper to wrap things up with another lbw, this time of Anthony Hall for seven to leave the home side all out for 139 and sparking big celebrations from a win starved Stony side who move up to 10th in the table at the half-way stage.
Division Three
STONY 2nds continued their slide down the table after a dramatic last over home defeat to Horton House 2nds. Batting first Stony posted a competitive 244, but perhaps would have looked to score more after Steve Wharton (97), Steve Underdown (62) and John Lambe (38) got them off to a great start while Elliot Ruff was the best of the Horton bowlers with 3-46.
Stony got off to a great start with the ball though, dismissing both openers for no score to raise hopes of a fightback. But Michael Richardson then crashed 97 which was to prove decisive for the visitors.
Dave Avery bowled excellently for Stony in taking 5-47 and going into the last over, Horton needed five with two wickets left. And Simon Dadge, who finished unbeaten with 40, needed just two balls to find those five runs to condemn Stony to a fourth defeat of the season.
MK Midweek League
Premier Division
SPEEDLINE Warriors (134-3) continue to lead the way after making it sevens wins in eight games against MK City (133-6). Adeel Malik (64) was the top Warriors performer while Anton DeBee (54) did his best to keep City in contention.
The table toppers' win by seven wickets keeps them well clear of second placed MK Azad (180-5) who had Zaheer Ahmed (81) to thank for helping them to a 32-run win over Wolverton Town (148). Charlie Maw hit 42 for Wolves but Nadeeem Aftab (3-34) and Harry Singh (3-24) did the damage.
Division One
EVERSHOLT (143-3) kept the pressure on leaders Abbey National with their 25-run success over MK Azad 2nds (118-7) while bottom side Denbigh Hall Sports (47) lost out to New Bradwell (53-0) by 10 wickets.
In the Midweek League Knockout Cup semi final MK Azad (66-9) beat Overseas (62) by one wicket. Azad move into final where they will meet either Speedline or Open University.
Cherwell League
Division One
BLETCHLEY Town slumped to a third straight league defeat in going down by 92 runs away at Great & Little Tew on Saturday, despite having done well to restrict their hosts to just 160.
Tew's Australian paceman Anthony Smith wreaked havoc with 5-21 to send Bletchley packing for just 68, leaving them deep in trouble near the foot of the table.
The visitors won the toss and decided to bowl first despite the good looking pitch, and although Mark Roberts and Ed Packard bowled well, they were both unable to get the initial breakthrough as Tew's openers Rob Garratt and Harry Smith started well.
With the score on 53, Packard got his reward when he found a way through Garratt's defences for 19. Tom Joraslafsky - who had impressed the previous weekend against Shipton - was introduced into the attack and quickly made his mark by dismissing the dangerous Robbie Shurmur for just seven and then accounting for Gary Sansome for a duck.
Joraslafsky, now in tandem with Graham Simpson - who bowled well without reward - made life tough for the hosts, and two more wickets fell to run outs as Bletchley turned the screw. The home side were running out of ideas and it was left to opener Smith (70) to carry his team forward. He received support from Anthony Smith who hit a quick 15 before Wasim Fayyaz deceived him in his first over.
Fayyaz looked in the groove and his third and fourth overs saw him dismiss James White and then Smith to leave Tew on the brink. The spin twins took another wicket apiece to dismiss Tew for what looked like a below par 160. Fayyaz returned 4-10 in eight overs in a brilliant spell to underline his credentials, whilst Joraslafsky picked up 3-52 in 20.4 overs. Bletchley's bowlers had got their team in with a shout, but there was still a long way to go.
Bletchley knew they would find it tough in reply without a few key players, but were heartened by the first over which yielded 12 runs. Things looked ominous as Smith and Martin Woods began to work up a good head of steam, and despite them losing Ed Fountaine and Simpson with the score on 19, Joraslafsky looked in good touch. However, this was as good as it got for the visitors as they capitulated to the pace of Smith inside 25 overs.
But from 46-2, Bletchley crumbled to 68 all out in an embarrassing display. Smith accounted for five of the top seven as only Joraslafsky (20) showed any fight. One or two may consider themselves unfortunate, but it was an excellent display by one of the division's top bowlers.
Tew's victory was all but confirmed by a hat-trick by young seamer Andy Harris, trapping Dave Warwick and Abs Premnath lbw, and then dismissing Shepherd caught behind to give him a moment he will savour.
Roberts was the last man to go, bowled by Anthony Smith, who recorded figures of 5-21 as Bletchley were bundled out for just 68, to give them a lot to think about while sitting second from bottom of the pile.
With half the season gone Bletchley find themselves stuck deep in a relegation battle. They will need to show more fight and spirit in the second half of the season if they are going to stand a chance of getting out of it, starting this week at local rivals and high-flying Buckingham where skipper Clark is looking for a much improved and determined performance with the bat.
Division Two
WOLVERTON recorded a priceless win over Tiddington to significantly increase their chances of pulling off a truly great escape. When Michael Baker won the toss he had no hesitation in asking the away team to bat first, and things began positively for Wolves.
Sameer Rehman had Robinson caught behind in the first over for two and by the fourth over Haroon Malik had fellow opener Pykett caught by Andrew Gosling for four. Tiddington tried to rebuild and stablise their innings with some quick runs from Habib (22) and Mackie (37) but a good caught and bowled from Malik saw Habib on his way and the hosts were in command.
Atif Akhlaq bowled smartly and picked up the wicket of Mackie while the tail of the Tiddington order was picked apart by Andrew Gosling who picked up 4-20 as the visitors crashed to 119 all out. At the end of the innings Malik returned figures of 3-39 while Akhlaq (1-16) and Rehman (1-26) also chipped in.
Wolves then came out after tea looking to press home their advantage. Sean Potter opened the innings with Robert Ford, but Potter was soon on his way in the first over for four after being trapped lbw by Hollingshead.
Jamil Raja became Hollingshead's second victim a few overs later as he had to leave after scoring three. Some solid batting saw Ford make 32 before being trapped lbw by Pykett while Aky Hussain added another 17 runs to this year's tally. A patient innings from Jake Yeo (29no) and Michael Baker (18no) saw Wolves home in the 49th over after taking their time and ensuring they took maximum points from a game they simply had to win.
This result sees Wolves move to within 14 points of second bottom Twyford ahead of a tough clash at home to third placed Leighton Buzzard this weekend.
Division Three
GREAT Brickhill maintained their push for promotion with a comfortable seven-wicket victory at Hanborough, leaving them fourth. Upon winning the toss Brickhill elected to take to the field. The new ball pairing of Pete Hastings and Nick Tweed got Brickhill off to a good start as the first two wickets fell with only 20 runs on the board, although the third wicket partnership did offer some good resistance until the introduction of spin in the form of Doug Aris who swung the momentum back in Brickhill's favour.
Wickets began to tumble and the runs dried up, Aris turning the ball noticeably well with Tweed providing great support from the opposite end. Only Neilson managed to get going for the hosts but he was left stranded on 64 not out as Hanborough collapsed to 147 all out from 44 overs. For Brickhill Aris starred with 6-55 and Tweed, who bowled unchanged for 22 overs, returned 3-35.
In reply Arran Aris started off in typical fashion with 15 from the opening over. The innings did suffer an early setback with the loss off Rice, but this brought the in-form Carter to the crease, and he looked to be positive and recorded a swift 30 before falling lbw attempting to sweep the spinner.
Aris was next to fall for a quick fire 75, but by this time a Brickhill victory was in sight and John Cook (33no) and Adam Boad (15no) saw their side comfortably home with 26 overs to spare, leaving them just 12 points off top spot in an increasingly tight division.
Division Six
THE 2nds of Wolverton and Bletchley Town went head to head in a mid-table local derby affair, with the boys from Bletchley taking the honours. Wolves lost the toss and batted first, but only made 153 in 46.5 overs. Ashley Dawson scored a well made 31 while Roger Garrini added 25.
Another aggressive innings from Steve Barnes saw him strike 34 not out at the end of the innings while Ben Shepherd picked up 4-18 from 12 overs and Des Kane returned 3-53.
Bletchley chased down the target in 32 overs with Jude Ramanadanpule scoring 55 not out and Shepherd adding 26 not out to his four wickets. Mahmood returned figures of 2-35 and Hogston 1-32, but a stunning piece of fielding stole the show as Hogston run-out Brooks for 10 with a direct hit. Not only did the points go to Bletchley, but the men from the south of the city have now leapfrogged their near neighbours into fifth place in the table.
Northants League Cup
Twenty/20 competition
STONY Stratford made it into the quarter finals of the NCL Twenty/20 Cup with their comfortable 41-run win at home to Old CC. Batting first, Stony racked up 175-4, with Jarrod Pretorius' 62 and Dion Ebrahim's 35 leading the way for the home side. Nick Allen (29) and Garth Davson (25) also made sure Stony posted a total which would prove too much for the visitors.
Old - who play their cricket four divisions below Stony - were not overawed and made a good attempt at reaching their target. Gareth Edlington hit an unbeaten 55 and Gareth Roderick 35, but they were always well behind the run rate after Steve Bellew (1-8) and Ebrahim only went for 17 from the first four overs. They eventually finished 41 runs short with just two wickets down in what was a brave effort.
Stony are now in the hat for the draw for the last eight and are one game away from finals day, to be held at the County Ground in Northampton on August Bank Holiday Sunday.
Other Cricket
Wolverton KO Cup semi final
MK CITY will meet New Bradwell in the final of the Wolverton Knockout Cup thanks to a five-wicket success over Castlethorpe at Osborne Street on Monday night. Castlethorpe were reduced to just 87 all out with Nick Bell (37) leading the way while Hasan Ali (4-19) did the most damage and there were two wickets each for Peter Heady and Mohammed Shahid and one for Ghulam Rasool.
In reply MK City did enough by reaching 91-5 as David Loveland (34no) and Imran Hul-Haq (15no) led the line despite the best efforts of Russell Jones who bowled valiantly in returning 4-27.
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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
