Derby day looms as Hucknall and Papplewick & Linby look to bounce back

Hucknall were beaten by six wickets at home to Clipstone while Kimberley Institute maintained second place in the league as they cruised to an eight-wicket victory at home to Papplewick & Linby.

Put into bat, Hucknall hit 173-8 in a reduced 36 overs due to the rain interruptions.

Under Duckworth-Lewis, Clipstone were set a revised target of 168 to win from 36 overs and they reached that total for the loss of four wickets with eight balls to spare.

After being 23-3, Hucknall captain Sam Johnson led their fight with 64 off 68 balls at number four including five fours and three sixes, while Dom Wheatley added 26 and Maaz Sheth took 3-30 off seven overs.

Clipstone lost Shaun Levy for one run with four on the board, but then Haider Ali Ehsan (52) and Adam Dutton (61 not out) combined for a second wicket stand of 96 to build a winning platform.

It was a fourth victory in nine games for the promoted side after a difficult start and they are now one of three sides on 32 points, just two behind fourth-placed Hucknall.

Hucknall captain Sam Johnson said: “The rain definitely made a difference as you are always at an advantage if you can bat second when there is rain about, so it was disappointing.

"But ultimately we did not bat well enough in the 36 overs we had. If you bat that poorly in any game of cricket you are probably not going to win.”

On Saturday’s derby he added: “It’s the next game and we have just lost, so the intention is there no matter who we play or where it is.

"But we are fully aware of how much this fixture means to a lot of people and, to be fair, the last three or four years we have come out on the right side of it a fair few times.

"So we are confident we can go there and put in a good display. But we also know nothing is given to you in this league. We know that they have some really fine players who, if we are not 100 per cent on it, can take the game away.

"Both teams are going into it on the back of a little bit of disappointing form, so it is who raises their game to the standard it should be the quickest that will probably come out on top. We hoping that is us.”

At Kimberley, the home side put Papplewick into bat and they were bowled out for 166 in 34.4 overs.

Opener Callum Mckenzie hit 31 but struggled for backing as Dom Brown claimed 5-28 and George Bacon 3-29

In reply, openers Akhil Patel (52) and Oliver Tewatiya (25) quickly put on 42.

After losing Tewatiya and then Bacon for eight, Patel and Martin Weightman (21 not out) saw out the game with a 42-run partnership as Kimberley reached 119-2 in only 19.5 overs