Ex-Windies batsman sends Hucknall to NPL defeat

Edwards, who was making his debut for Welbeck, and Gurpej Landa knocked off Hucknall’s 228 for six with ease, striking 94 and 99 respectively.

However, a late wicket for the home side earned them a point that may prove vital later in the season as both batsmen failed to reach centrues after adding 179 for the second wicket.

The visitors asked Hucknall to bat and Jake Libby and Vinay Landa, after their success the previous week, continued the new opening partnership.

They put on 44 before after twice just clearing extra cover Landa went for another hit over the top and was caught at mid-off for six.

Robin Maxwell joined Libby and they batted well with Libby reaching his sixth consecutive galf-century, this time off 72 balls.

The opener looked set for a big score, but was unluckily run out when Maxwell drilled spinner Jonathan Ball straight back down the pitch and the bowler, Jonathan Ball, tipped the ball on to the stumps and ran out Libby for 70.

Maxwell went on to strike a half-century off 78 balls, his third in five innings, and with Geoff Dods at the other end the run-rate increased.

Maxwell went past his previous Premier League best score of 83 and looked set for a century when he was caught at long-on for 88, including nine fours and a six.

Dods then hit out with two sixes and two fours for his New Gatehouse best of 40, but wickets fell towards the end of the innings as each new batsman looked to score quickly from the start of their innings.

A total of 84 runs were added in the last 10 overs as Hucknall reached 228, but it always looked short of a challenging total in good batting conditions.

Welbeck have had some batting woes this year and they were needed to make their highest score of the season to win.

After a solid start Dods trapped Matt Higgins lbw with the score on 33. That brought Edwards to the crease, who has been playing with Lashings CC, and from then on the result was never in doubt.

Landa went to his first half-century of the season off 61 balls and Edwards reached his 50 from 57 deliveries.

Hucknall didn’t bowl badly, but the batsmen were at the top of their game. Lands struck 13 fours and Edwards 10 fours and three sixes.

Both were nearing centuries, although Edwards was dropped at long-off on 93.

The West Indian failed to make the most of his reprieve when on 94 he failed to get back as the non-striker and George Buckthorpe ran him out with a fine direct hit.

Richard Stroh defended a few deliveries back to try to allow Landa to get to his century as Wekbeck closed in on their target.

But on 99 the opener went for a pull off Joel Wright and under edged it to Scott Harris, standing up behind the wicket, who took a terrific catch and gave Hucknall another point that may later turn out to be vital.

Dods claimed one for 44 from 12 overs and Wright one for 33 from eight overs.

Hucknall remained in eighth place, but the bottom half of the table is closing up after bottom-of-the-table Caythorpe won.

Confident Cuckney reached the halfway point of the season on top and still unbeaten after a three-wicket victory at West Indian Cavaliers.

The defending champions were given a challenging target after Cavaliers had recovered well from 32-2 and 71-4 to reach 241-6 in their allotted 50 overs, thanks to an unbeaten 96 from former Nottinghamshire batsman Bilal Shafayat in a stand worth 121 with Adam Tillcock (57).

But Cuckney timed their reply to perfection, despite making a similarly troubled start, and got home with one over to spare. Will Butler (51) and captain Nick Langford (40) put on 70 to take the total to 127-4 and then Daniel Wood fired an unbeaten 59 in a stand of 64 with brother Luke that defied the efforts of Cavaliers all-rounder Tillcock (3-43).

The win increased Cuckney’s lead to 13 points after closest rivals Kimberley (260-8, George Bacon 117) lost second place in a five-wicket defeat at home to Plumtree (261-5).

Safely ensconced in mid-table are Mansfield Hosiery Mills, even though they suffered a four-wicket defeat at Radcliffe-on-Trent. Knocks of 64 from Tom New and 31 from Mark Smallwood eased the Millers to 128-3 at one stage, but they managed only 199-8 in the end. The hosts sailed to their target with ten overs in hand thanks to 84 from Josh Mierkalns and despite two wickets apiece for Matt Wright, Elliott Bowles and Dylan Barmby.

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