Nottinghamshire Premier League leaders Cavaliers & Carrington proved too strong for visiting Hucknall as they completed a four wicket win on Saturday.

Asked to bat, Hucknall were bowled out for 149 in 44 overs.

Two wickets went down for just eight runs as they laboured early on and at 81-7 it was only a 65-run eight wicket partnership between George Blatherwick (31) and Connor Ramm (34) that gave them faint hope of forcing Cavaliers to break sweat.

Sana Ullah Khan took an excellent 4-10 off his seven overs.

Connor Ramm - bowled well for Hucknall in defeat by leaders.

placeholder image — Connor Ramm - bowled well for Hucknall in defeat by leaders.

Hucknall did claim an early Cavaliers wicket.

But then Savin Perera (35) and Saad Ali (55) dug in and put on 85 for the second wicket.

Jibran Azam added an unbeaten 27 as they reached 153-6 in 35.2 overs.

“With that wicket I thought they probably got the best of the conditions with the ball,” said Hucknall captain Sam Johnson.

“They bowled nicely to which at times we had no answer.

“We probably just lacked a bit of quality in that first 25-30 overs to navigate it.

“At 149 we were probably 10-15 runs short but pretty bullish about our efforts as we thought we had a fighting chance. Unfortunately it didn't quite go to plan.

“With a small total like that, while wanting to keep the runs down, wickets are your best dot ball.

“So for them to put on 85 for the second wicket was tough. It was one of those days in the field.

“Defending a small total, everything has to go for you.

“Connor Ramm bowled beautifully to give us a sniff, but the other bowlers were lacking that cutting edge to feed off what he was doing.

“We have been poor at home all season and we have to be so much better whether it's against top, middle or bottom.

“It has been a really disappointing season so far and you can't start a run without winning a game.

“So we will try to win on Saturday and start to get some momentum in the second half of the season to take us near where we think we should be.”

There was no joy either for Papplewick & Linby, who lost by 70 runs at Wollaton.

Put into bat, Wollaton were all out for 140, Kiel Van Vollenhoven with a half-century, Luke Fletcher taking 3-17 and George Allom 3-24.

It looked a very achievable target for the visitors but they crumbled to just 70 all out in only 17.4 overs.

Nicky Kirkwood took 4-16 off just four overs and Van Vollenhoven 3-6 from 4.4 overs in two excellent bowling performances.

“It was just one of those things,” said vice captain Ben Bhabra.

“I thought our lads bowled really well as a team and we kept their score down.

“But credit to Wollaton, they bowled very well. We lost a couple of early wickets and they ended up taking the points.

“It was disappointing but it gives us motivation for this weekend against Clipstone.

“They have just come up but we know they are going to be a good side to be playing at this level, and if you look at the table there is little between sides from fourth to just about bottom, just one or two wins. So we don't take anyone for granted.”

This Saturday Hucknall host struggling Welbeck while Papplewick are at home to surprise packet Clipstone, who sit fourth after promotion.