Papplewick & Linby blow game in hand as they lose to Nottinghamshire Premier League title rivals Kimberley Institute

And, though they bounced back to beat Clifton Village by eight wickets 24 hours later, Papplewick skipper Ben Trevor-Jones knows their important game in hand is now gone.

“It was a massive chance to catapult ourselves up to the top, but so be it - Kimberley are a good side,” he said.

“They played really well and we were perhaps just slightly off our best, though not by much.

“We lost a couple of early wickets and they bowled really well and key us to a slightly lower score than we were aiming for.

“The we bowled and fielded well and stuck it to the second last over, so there were plenty of positives to take from it.

“On Sunday it was a hot day, we didn't have our best morning in the field and to be set 260 I wasn't in the greatest of spirits. But Brent got us off to a great start and we ended up chasing it down.

“It was a really good experience for us as a side to know we can chase down those types of scores. That probably swung things back in the direction we wanted.

“We feel like we're still in touch in the league and we have a lot to play for in the Twenty20 and Derbyshire Cup. There's lots to look forward to.”

On Saturday Papplewick chose to bat and made 226-8 in their 50 overs.

After they lost Brent Williams and Callum McKenzie, both for a duck, and were sat shellshocked on 2-2, Louis Bhabra powered to 77 with 70 for skipper Ben Trevor-Jones, the pair putting on 141 for the third wicket, and Curtis Mitchell adding 49.

James Hindson claimed 3-61 from his 10 overs while Alex Ming and Martin Weightman both took two wickets apiece, Weightman claiming both in his first two overs.

In reply, Kimberley made 229-5 in 48.3 overs.

Opener Sam Wood settled them down with 62, Billy Godleman making 54, as did an unbeaten Weightman, the latter pair putting on 95 for the fourth wicket.

Ben Bhabra took 4-52 from 10 overs.

A day later Clifton made 258-8, Kiel Van Vollenhoven scoring 58, Surya Mahotra 56 and Ross Carnelly 45, Ben Bhabra taking 4-64 from 10 overs.

But Papplewick easily reached a match-wining 259-2 in 42.3 overs, opener Brent Williams leading the charge with an unbeaten 120, aided by skipper Trevor-Jones with 102 not out.

Papplewick missed out on a place in tonight’s (Friday) NCB Twenty20 final after going down by 19 runs against Radcliffe on Thursday night, making 135-8 in reply to Radcliffe’s 154-8.

This means they will now face Swarkestone in the Derbyshire Premier Cup this Sunday.

Tomorrow (Saturday) they head for Gedling & Sherwood in the NPL.