2018 League round-up 1

The Leicestershire and Rutland League finally got underway on Saturday after a week's delay was followed by a complete washout.

Leicestershire CCC opener Sam Evans and wicket-keeper Harry Swindells are playing at Leicester Ivanhoe but were not able to prevent their side losing by six wickets to Syston Town.

Ivanhoe won the toss and elected to bat with Evans top scoring with 46, his side were in trouble at 16-3 but, along with Jake Beaumont, the pair rebuilt the innings putting on 64 before Beaumont was dismissed for 30. Contributions from Mitch Carey (42) and Richard Durose (23) helped Ivanhoe to 168.

George Corbett was the star with the ball for Syston in taking 3 for 22 from just 6 overs. His side’s reply got off to the worst possible start as Syston were 24 for 2, however, Ram Ghuman and Charles Wootton came together and put on 109 to get their side within touching distance of the target. Ghuman fell first for 69 and Wootton went 29 runs later for 58, leaving Charlie Taylor and Ben Drake to see their side home.

Last year’s champions Sileby started their season with a loss to newly promoted Langtons. Langtons batted first and made 201 with Sarfaraz Boriyhwala top scoring with 69. Aaron Smith, Jigar Naik and Ryan Dawson all took two wickets for Sileby.

At 162 for 3 and with captain Naik at the crease, Sileby would have been confident of reaching their target. However, Naik fell for 67 and Sileby then lost six wickets for just nine runs. Sarfaraj Patel was the star for Langtons as he dismissed numbers 8, 9 and 10 all without scoring. Patel’s final figures were 10-2-34-5.

Loughborough Town and Kibworth saw two Leicestershire players take one another on. Tom Wells was able to come out on top of Aadil Ali.

Wells opened the batting and made 25 before being caught & bowled by Matt Bashford. Academy batsman Ashish Trusz batted three for Loughborough and top-scored with 65 as his side made 219 from their 50 overs. 

Aadil batted three for Kibworth and was in early as Matt Craven fell for 1. Aadil struck two boundaries and a maximum before he fell to Nil Patel, who dismissed the top four Kibworth batsmen. Patel ended up with 4 for 40 from his ten overs. 

He was supported by another Academy member Nat Bowley, who bowled his full 10-over allocation, taking two wickets and conceding just 27 runs in his spell. Loughborough came out on top as Kibworth were bowled out for 197.

Lutterworth were arguably the league’s most comprehensive winners as they beat Market Harborough by 132 runs. Harborough won the toss and chose to field and this decision looked a good one as Lutterworth were 9 for 1. Matt Pickering dug in for his side and made 71 as Lutterworth finished 206 for 8 from 50 overs. Both Josh Bott and Joe Gordon took three wickets for Harborough.

Harborough’s reply was in tatters as Darren Cader and Tom Watson ripped through their top order, Cader returning stunning figures of 7 for 35 from nine overs. Harborough could only muster 74 before being bowled out.

Barrow Town were the highest scorers at the weekend as they scored 301 in their game against newly promoted Uppingham Town. Pradeep Chanditha, batting at number 8, hit a stunning 97 from just 64 balls, including seven fours and six maximums. When Chanditha entered the wicket the score was 159-7 and he steered the side away from trouble to an imposing total.

Uppingham Captain Benjamin Farnsworth top scored for his side with 63 but when he fell with the score 118-4 his sides hopes were all but over. His side ended up 183 all out as Umar Afzal took 4-27 and Sardeep Salgotra 3-19 to give their side the points.

A low-scoring thriller took place between Kegworth and Barkby. Barkby batted first and set 187 with David Tew top-scoring with 44. Smith recorded figures of 3 for 38. In reply Brent Williams made 56 as Kegworth reached their target eight wickets down, George Scottorn had given Barkby hope as he took 3 for 30.

Away from the Leicestershire league, Rob Sayer impressed for his home club Peterborough Town. In the Northamptonshire Premier League. Sayer took 4-45 from 15 overs as his side bowled Oundle Town out for 162 and then hit 61 to help guide his side to a 6-wicket win.

Ateeq Javid is playing for Berkswell in the Birmingham Premier League and bowled effectively, conceding just 15 runs from 8 overs and picking up a wicket. Unfortunately with the bat Javid, opening the innings, was dismissed for 3 as his side lost by 15 runs.

Tom Taylor was in the runs for Ticknall in the Derbyshire Premier League, hitting 58 as his side made 267 from 50 overs against Wirksworth & Middleton. 

All-rounder Zak Chappell played for Longton in the North Staffs and South Cheshire League and got 11 overs under his belt taking 3 for 33, including both openers. Chappell then batted at 5 and hit 34 at just over a run a ball. His side ran out 3-wicket winners.  

* For the very latest news from the Leicestershire & Rutland Cricket League, check out their website HERE