Winning weekend double eludes frustrated Hucknall

“Saturday was really important to us to bounce back after a couple of disappointing results, and although I wasn't 100 per cent satisfied with the performance, it was a win while not playing at our best,” said captain Sam Johnson.

“They are always good wins to get when you're not quire firing.”

Choosing to bat first, Hucknall reached 270-8.

Openers Nolan Benson (78) and George Buckthorpe (46) paved the way with a 132 opening stand.

Hassan Chaudry (40), Sam Johnson (30) and George Blatherwick (24 not out) all made good scores too while Kirsten Cowlishaw (3-31) and Don Butchart (3-38) were the pick of the Clifton bowling attack.

Clifton's chase fell short as they were all out for 258 off the final ball.

The visitors were in a spot of early bother at 59-3 until Don Butchart (65) and Kiel Van Vollenhoven (28) put together a 96-run partnership for the fourth wicket and Adam Shepherd added another 27 before falling just short in the end, though at least taking two points with six for Hucknall.

“We were on top for the first 30 overs and then we didn't bat very well for the last 15-20,” said Johnson.

“We got a few early wickets but then their key players batted well. We clawed it back well though and it was more comfortable than the result suggest.

“I felt reasonably comfortable after we got Adam Shepherd out as he is a dangerous player. We were a bit sloppy at the end which hopefully we can rectify moving forward.

“Nolan and George batted really well. When you get a score like that from your opening partnership you need to be taking advantage – and that is on the rest of the batters and we didn't take advantage, so it's something to learn from.”

On Sunday Hucknall were beaten by 95 runs at Kimberley.

Hucknall put the home side into bat and they made 249 all out.

Openers Sam Wood (58) and Patrick Delahunty (35) put on 86 and there was another good partnership of 83 for the sixth wicket between George Bacon (30) and Dom Wheatley (50).

Jake Wright ended with figures of 3-50 from his 10 overs.

Hucknall then lost George Buckthorpe with only five runs scored.

Ben Martindale (25), Mathew Roberts (48) and Sam Johnson (44) gave some hope, but they ended up all out for just 154, James Hindson with 3-26 from eight overs and Sam Wood with 3-21 from 6.4 overs as Kimberley claimed all eight points on offer.

Johnson said: “Sunday was tough. I take a lot of the blame as I won the toss and misread the pitch.

“If I had my time again I would bat first on that. It was a used wickets that got harder to score on as the day went on.

“We have beaten them the last two times so we went there full of confidence but with a few players missing, which was a shame.

“They were just that bit better than us on the day and won the key moments. But there were positives to take out of it.

“We got off to a really good start – we were something like 72-1 off 12 overs.

“Then we lost those two set batsmen within an over of each other which obviously checks your momentum and never really recovered.”

He continued: “We didn't build enough partnerships in those middle overs to set up a platform to try to win the game at the end. That was the difference between the sides.

“Their number six and seven put on probably near a 100 and that was the difference.”

Hucknall face Attenborough away on Saturday and Johnson said: “It will be a tough game. It is the most important game of our season so far by virtue of it being our next game.

“But equally there is a really tight squeeze between positions five and nine in the table.

“We are two of the teams in that area so hopefully we can put on a good performance, really attack the fixture and come away with a win to try to stay in that top half.”