Hucknall fall short in run chase after Clifton post huge total

Having lost Saqlain Bazmi for one with Clifton's score on two, Donald Butchart (86) and Rob Forrester (82) made a decisive 157 partnership while Adam Shepherd added 44 and No.9 batsman Dan Footitt added a bonus half-century.

Jake Wright took 3-39 off his seven overs.

Hucknall chased hard with 36 for Vinay Landa, 43 for Sam Johnson and 50 for Nolan Benson, but, with Adam Shepherd taking 3-50, they were all out for 256.

“Fair play to Clifton, they played really well,” said Hucknall captain Sam Johnson.

“ They had first use of a really good wicket and really grabbed their opportunity to get ahead in the game.

“In amateur cricket, any time you're chasing upwards of five an over over a long period of time it's difficult. I was reasonably pleased with how we went about it.

“When you're chasing that kind of total you need every bit of luck to go your way and we didn't quite have that.

“But fair play to Clifton. They were better than us in all three disciplines if I am being brutally honest.”

He continued: “I don't want to take anything away from Clifton as they batted really well and ground us down to an extent.

“But if you looked back at it you'd like certain overs back and certain incidents back.

“Any time you are going for a total like that you have to look at your own game and think what could you do better?

“But we also have to humble enough to look at them and say they had two lads who got scores of 80 and upwards, which sets up any game of cricket, plus two destructive players to come in and clear the ropes in the last 10 overs.

“If you were to write down how you'd want the ideal batting first innings to go, I don't think it would be too far away from what Clifton did to be honest.”

Hucknall are now due to play Radcliffe-on-Trent away on Saturday with Johnson saying: “The weather looks like we're expecting a lot of rain – the forecast is really poor.

“In terms of the cricket it is a notoriously really tough place to go.

“We are under no illusions and I think it will be a really tricky match.”

He added: “I don't think any team can go there and say they feel comfortable.

“It is quite a unique ground, wicket and surroundings.

“I think it will be more low-scoring than last Saturday, that's just the nature of the beast. I think we will need to be at it every single ball from ball one to the 100th over of the day if it goes on that long .

“We must front up a tough side who play an aggressive brand of cricket and have a reasonably well balanced side.

“All these early season games are generally a good yardstick for where you are and how you want to progress as the season goes.

“We are looking forward to it. We are playing some good cricket and hopefully we can turn them over.”