Premier Division round-up 16 July

Appleby Frodingham pulled off an impressive eight-wicket win over third-placed Sheffield Collegiate at Abbeydale to take advantage of Tickhill’s defeat and move back to the top of the table. Collegiate elected to bat first after winning the toss, but failed to put together the substantial partnership they needed to build a match-winning score. Only Sam Hunt and Dan Priestley in the middle-order batted with any permanence and were largely responsible for lifting the home side from 60-4 to 200-6 before both departing to veteran seamer Paul Hilton, who was the pick of the visitors’ attack. When the Steelmen replied, Robert Shaw quickly got rid of one dangerman in Alex Grimes, but Jordan Cook, with a responsible unbeaten 104 off 134 balls, his first Premier League hundred, saw his side to victory in partnerships of 69 with Jordan Neil and the an unbroken 150 with Kieran Lindley. Appleby, who completed a double over Collegiate, now have an eight-point lead at the top of the table, whilst the Abbeydale side ar in fourth – 36 adrift with eight to play. 

 

Sheffield Coll 226-9 (50) Sam Hunt 42, Dan Priestley 50, Paul Hilton 3-40 

Appleby Frodingham 230-2 (45.1) Jordan Cook 104*, Kieran Lindley 69*, Jordan Neil 42 

 

Like the other teams to win the toss on a fine summer’s day, Tickhill decided to bat first against Whitley Hall at Baxter Field. Their innings was built around a 96-run third-wicket stand between Jim Baxter and Tian Koekemoer, whilst James Brown returned a career-best 6-82 for the home side. Whilst 260 was clearly not an easy target for Whitley, it was far from impossible on a quick-scoring ground, and home skipper James Moorhouse, with a magnificent 124 off 121 balls, led his side to an excellent win with six wickets and two balls to spare. Moorhouse had solid support from Matt Cartwright in an opening stand of 122, before Ben Tracey helped him add 96 for the second wicket that saw their side to within sight of the win. Tickhill are still very much in the hunt for the title, eight points behind the leaders and with a game against them at the end of the month; whilst Whitley arrested a run of four straight defeats and are now one of five teams locked on 94 points in joint fifth place. 

 

Tickhill 259-7 (50) Jim Morgan 76, Tian Koekemoer 81, Connor Fisher 31, James Brown 6-82 

Whitley Hall 260-4 (49.4) James Moorhouse 124, Matt Cartwright 56, Ben Tracey 35, Alex Rowland 3-74 

 

Wakefield Thornes kept alive their outside chance of winning the Premier Division title with a win over bottom club Whiston Parish Church that was a far cry from the 636-run extravaganza at Church Fields earlier in the season. In a game they will want to forget, the visitors’ decision to bat first looked doomed from the start against the home side’s dominant four-men attack. Wickets fell at regular intervals, and the experienced Peter Wilson top-scored with 12 runs at number eight. The target of just 60 was a formality for Thornes, but Whiston did at least have the satisfaction of taking two wickets, including that of the home side’s top run-scorer, Joe Billings. 

 

Whiston PC 59 (25.3) Imran Maboob 3-13, Joshua Hen-Boisen 3-6 

Wakefield T 60-2 (8.2) Joe Billings 30 

 

Treeton, playing Doncaster Town at Town Fields yesterday, were another side who were unable to take advantage of having the first knock. Only Chris Cobb, with 34 off 54 balls, showed any prolonged resistance against Umar Amin, who returned a UK-best 7-12. Facing a modest target of 93, Town lost two early wickets to Charlie Bourne, but Jaden Fell and James Ward batted responsibly to put on an unbroken 79 for the third wicket and take their side to their seventh win of the season, thereby arresting a three-match losing run and halting Treeton’s recent revival. Doncaster join Barnsley and Whitley Hall on 94 points, whilst Treeton are just two points outside the relegation places. 

 

Treeton 92 (33.2) Chris Cobb 34, Umar Amin 7-12 

Doncaster T 93-2 (24.5) Jaden Fell 53* 

 

Callum Higgins and Sam Shaw gave Elsecar a solid start against Barnsley Woolley Miners at Shaw Lane with a 70-run opening stand, Shaw going on to a season’s best 68 against his former club. After that, twenties from Bilal Anjam and Pete Hadfield saw Elsecar to a competitive 208-5. Jake Weatherald and Beck Frostick got Barnsley Woolley Miners off to their now customary positive start, but both fell to Muhammed Ilyas, who took the first four wickets as Barnsley slipped from 42-0 to 63-5. Ali Jahangir and Owen Smith added 65 for the sixth wicket before Jahangir fell to Anjam and Ilyas returned to the attack to take the last three wickets and leave the home side 32 runs short. Ilyas’s 7-35 was his best return in Premier league cricket. It was an invaluable win for Elsecar, who are now 12 points above the relegation places, whilst the Griffins are in joint-fifth place. 

 

Elsecar 208-5 (50) Sam Shaw 68, Callum Higgins 31 

Barnsley WM 176 (48.3) Jake Weatherald 30, Owen Smith 46, Muhammed Ilyas 7-35 

 

The experienced Bill Kirby, with his 21st century for the club, led Cleethorpes to an invaluable win against a Cawthorne side only four points below them in eleventh place at the start of the day. Kirby added 49 for the second wicket with Tom Rollinson and 50 for the fifth with James Osmond, but otherwise the long-serving club skipper played largely a lone hand, before being eighth out at 229, scoring 121 off 147 balls. Liam Wiles got Cawthorne off to a positive start, with 40 off 44 balls, but wickets started to fall all too regularly, with Matthew Owen taking the key wicket of Taruwar Kohli and following up with that of the dangerous-looking Archie Greaves for 31. Four wickets for Kieran Brooker reduced the visitors to 156-9 before Jake Holling and Aqib Nawaz added an unbroken 37 for the last wicket to gain their side a precious two points. 

 

Cleethorpes 231-9 (50) Bill Kirby 121, Ahmed Matloob 3-52, Michael Jepps 3-50 

Cawthorne 193-9 (50) Liam Wiles 40, Archie Greaves 31, George Charnock 30, Matthew Owen 3-43, Kieran Brooker 4-49