Defeat by Cavaliers sees rivals close in on Papplewick & Linby

But, with two big away games this weekend, captain Ben Trevor-Jones is confident they quickly wrestle back the initiative.

“It was obviously disappointing but we knew five or six weeks ago when we were in a good position but had an extremely tough run home,” he said.

“To be honest I knew we would come up against an opposition at some stage that would just play better than us on the day and that happened on Saturday.

“We have to take that on and move forward as we have a massive weekend ahead this weekend. With some points out of those two fixtures we should be right back on top.”

Asked to bat, Cavaliers made 181-8 with 60 for Nayyar Abbas and 29 for Mateen Teli, Ben Bhanbra taking 3-35.

Papplewick them crumbled to 166 all out, Freddie McCann with 43, Louis Bhabra with 28 and Daniel Blatherwick with 26, Shivsinh Thakor claiming 3-22.

“I certainly don't regret putting them into bat as we had them 77-5,” said Trevor-Jones.

“But Nayyar Abbas just occupied the crease and stayed, showing some experience in recognising it wasn't a 250+ wicket.

“It was more like a 200 wicket, so I was quite happy with what we kept them to. The bowlers did a really good job, particularly the spinners holding them in the middle.

“With the bat probably the only difference between Saturday and previous games was that we lost wickets in clumps a couple of times.

“Myself and Brent Williams getting out in the space of a couple of balls didn't help, then there was a spell in the middle when we lost three wickets in the space of two or three overs.

“That's probably the only difference as we only fell 15 runs short.”

Papplewick now head for surprise leaders Radcliffe-on-Trent on Saturday before a trip to Plumtree on Sunday.

“Radcliffe are a very dangerous side and haven't lost a game in months,” he said.

“They appear even more difficult to beat at home. You play to suit the wicket you're playing on and they are doing that.

“They also have some players who are really in form. It's a massive game for us.

“But we have a strong side out, we beat them earlier in the year, we beat them in the T20 and we beat them last year too.

“So I feel like we should go into with confidence but obviously we have to do the job on the day.”