Holmesfield stumble as gap at the top widens
by author's name, 4th March 2007

The gap at the top of the Sheaf Sports YDCL opened further as Holmesfield stumbled against Stanton. D Rosling’s 52 and the returning Gladwin’s unbeaten 120 eased Stanton to 216-3 before 5-38 from D Clarke helped reduce Holmesfield to 108-8.

With SWD’s game at Ashford falling victim to the weather that meant that Parkhead could pile more pressure on the rest of the first division with a win against rock bottom Sheffield Collegiate IV. Jones and Davis, with 51 and 63 respectively, set Parkhead on their way to 242-5 then Junaid took 4-53 as Collegiate slumped to 127 all out.

Collegiate may be bottom but are still in touch after Calver suffered a home defeat at the hands of De La Salle. Batting first the visitors piled on an enormous 299-6 with notable performances from Latimer (81), Burton (86) and Willey (51*) but credit goes to 15 year old Nathan Lee who toiled hard for his 4-60. S Hallows’ 66 and Beauchamp’s 47 were in vain as 4-31 from Mitchell aided their downfall for 175.

University Staff’s Sharma put in a big performance against Hundall. Firstly he took 4-26 with the ball as Hundall fell for just 188 and he then steered his side to victory by 8 wickets with an unbeaten 52. A fine bowling display from Keys (4-37) and Burke (5-39) shut out Hathersage for just 100. Ridgeway won by 7 wickets,

Contributions from the Outram family proved fruitless for Grindleford. John’s 48 and Tom’s 61 were the highlights of Grindleford’s 165-7 but 80 from Rhodes helped Centralians past their target with 5 wickets in hand.

Parkhead II’s slump ended on Saturday in a close one against Stocksbridge. Thanks to 74* from Clayton they closed on 174-5 and despite Spawton’s 81 and Ward’s 44 Stocksbridge lost by just 2 runs. 45 from Fletcher and 40 from Denby were they two key scores for Chesterfield Barbarians who could only manage 140-7 against Millhouses. Henderson’s 50 helped Millhouses to edge home by 3 wickets.

Transport had another nightmare with the bat in Division 3 as Baslow bowled them out for just 47 with Hadfield claiming 5-15. Baslow romped home to an 8 wicket win. De La Salle picked up a fairly comfortable 20 points against Weston Park Hospital. Batting first DLS made 164-5. Bulmer top scored with 47 and Flatley danced his way to an unbeaten 43. 5-55 from Green helped to slow down Weston Park in the run chase as they closed on 111-8.

SWD couldn’t follow up on their success last week as they stumbled against Millhouses II. Khan and Stewart were the two top players in the game with Millhouses’ Khan making the telling contributions. In the first innings he made 101 of his side’s 181 with Stewart taking 4-49 for SWD. Works in response were bowled out for 157 with Stewart top scoring with 67. Khan did the damage with the ball however taking 6-64.

5-32 from Straw piled on the misery for Hundall II as Sheepbridge II bowled them out for just 72. Sheepbridge only lost 3 wickets chasing their target. 101-8 was the total Centralians II set Hathersage II for whom Morton picked up 4-18. Buckton saw his side to a 7 victory with 48 in 23 overs.

The Whittington Wanderers derby went in favour of the first XI. Batting first they made 199-4 with Fletcher (59) and K Tann (79*) the top scorers. The second XI struggled to 94-5 with Vickery unbeaten on 48 at the close. In a low scoring game 5-28 from Daily was the difference for Stocksbridge II as they bowled out Coal Aston III for 96. 40 from Newton eased Stocksbridge’s worries as they won by 5 wickets.

Another striking performance from Ashford II outlined their promotion credentials as well as their wealth of young talent. WPH II were the victims this week and they were bowled out for 115. Shah’s 56 was the pick of the batting performances but Mounsey’s 6-31 stole the show. McGrath’s unbeaten 61 saw Ashford to an 8 wicket triumph.

Baslow II kept Wingerworth Saltergate to a gettable 165 which they were able to bypass thanks to Rook’s 59* with 5 wickets in hand. Apperknowle came out of their wobble with a convincing win against Stocksbridge III. Although they were bowled out for 117 they skittled Stocksbridge for just 55 in the second innings.

Hallam IV’s Brownlee picked up tidy figures of 4-24 to keep Dronfield Sports Contact to 167-9. 77 from Heath and 65* from Meakin then completed the job for the loss of just one wicket. In a reduced overs game Zingari made 143-4 with Smith top scoring with 48*. Chesterfield Barbarians battled to a 3 wicket win with Slack seeing them over the line with 75 not out.