Papplewick & Linby captain: 'Momentum is crucial'

Papplewick & Linby captain Ben Trevor-Jones bats against Kimberley in a crucial win last Saturday. Photo by Jason Chadwick.

A 23-run success over title rivals Kimberley Institute kept them at arm's length from their opponents who still have three games in hand on them and could mathematically still catch Trevor-Jones’ side.

So the enormity of the victory wasn’t lost on the skipper who top scored with 63 as his side made 232-8 – despite being 10-2 early on – before bowling the visitors out for 209.

He said: “It was a tricky toss to win as we weren’t sure whether what was quite a hard wicket was best for batting or bowling, but I felt we could get on the front foot once it had done a bit early on and that was a case despite the blow of losing two early wickets.

"It was a really important win and we’d been building up nicely to the game by playing some really good cricket, so it was good to deliver against such a quality side as Kimberley, especially given they’d beaten us a couple of weeks ago.”

Papplewick now prepare for a different kind of challenge as they visit Mansfield Hosiery Mills on Saturday, a team rock bottom of the table with only one win to their name.

But Trevor-Jones is keen to avoid a banana skin having navigated their way past a much tougher challenge last time out.

He said: “There are no easy games in this division and Mansfield have actually got nothing to lose so have been throwing caution to the wind a bit in recent games.

"They came close to beating Radcliffe [who lie in third place] on Sunday and made 250 in the process so we know they have a lot of strengths.

"But we’re playing consistently good cricket and can’t afford to drop points at any stage given we have some big games coming up.

"Momentum is so important, which is why it’s good we’re still in the Derbyshire Premier Cup because it keeps us playing cricket and gives us the chance to check ourselves out against different opposition.

"If you’d offered me at start of the season the chance to beat Kimberley to go topwith seven games to play I’d have snapped your hand off so now it’s up to us to build on our runners-up spot last year and win the league.”