Premier Division round-up for 20 August

Leaders Appleby Frodingham completed a straightforward win over relegated Whiston Parish Church at Brumby Hall. The visitors elected to bat first, but were in trouble from the second over, when skipper Gareth Davis was caught behind off Jordan Neil. Wickets fell regularly after that, and no visiting batsman reached 20. Kieran Lindley picked up another four wickets to take his season tally to 44 as Whiston were dismissed for 86. Alex Grimes and Jordan Cook then put on 52 for the first wicket, as the Steelmen reached their target with ease. They remain twenty points ahead of Tickhill going into the last three games. 

 

Whiston PC 86 (36) Kieran Lindley 4-30 

Appleby Frodingham 88-1 (19.4) Jordan Cook 41*, Alex Grimes 34 

 

Second-placed Tickhill kept up the pressure on the leaders with a last-over, last-wicket win over Treeton at Alderson Drive. Having asked Treeton to bat first, the home side were soon rewarded when Paddy Turner took three early wickets to reduce the visitors to 27-3. But the experienced Steve Foster and skipper Sam Drury (74 off 63 balls) engineered a recovery, adding exactly 100 for the fourth wicket. The partnership ended when Drury was run out by Ross Diver, and Adi Sreedharan then got amongst the wickets, taking the last four to fall. But an unbeaten 48 from Ben Birtles took Treeton to 214-8, giving them a decent score to bowl against. Liam Johnson had taken two wickets, and Tickhill were 85-3, when keeper Jordan Lowe came to the crease to make 53 off 52 balls. At 172-4, Tickhill looked in control but Will Street then took three quick wickets, including that of Lowe, and they slipped to 177-7. James Waller, with an unbeaten 20 off 16 balls, was then chiefly responsible for seeing the home side to a victory by one wicket with two balls to spare. Tickhill can only keep winning and hope that the leaders slip up, whilst Treeton are caught up in a very congested lower half of the table, where only 24 points separate fifth from eleventh, and defeats in the last three games could see any of them relegated. 

 

Treeton 214-8 (50) Steve Foster 43, Sam Drury 74, Ben Birtles 48*, Paddy Turner 3-29, Adi Sreedharan 4-72 

Tickhill 218-9 (49.4) Ross Diver 34, Jordan Lowe 53, Will Street 4-59 

 

After being put in to bat by visitors Wakefield Thornes at Town Fields, Doncaster Town slipped to 35-3 after Orminder Singh had taken a couple of early wickets. George Fisher’s promising 27 was ended by Joshua Hen-Boisen at 74-4, and that brought in Charlie Kaye, who added 56 with skipper James Ward, but after that played largely a lone hand in getting Doncaster to a respectable 228. Kaye reached his maiden Premier Division century in the process with a mixture of watchfulness and clean hitting (109 off 90 balls with seven fours and eight sixes); whilst Thornes' opening bowlers, Matty Taylor and Singh, took four wickets apiece. In their reply, Thornes had their own century-maker in Joe Billings, and Kieran Donnachie’s early departure to Curtis Free only brought him to the crease sooner. But wickets continued to fall at the other end, and the visitors were 95-5 when Billings was joined by young Jawad Akhtar, and they added 80 for the sixth wicket to put Thornes in control. After Akhtar had fallen to Joel Gunn and James Dobson had Taylor caught, it was left to Brad Green to ensure that Billings did not run out of partners. He duly steered the visitors home with an excellent unbeaten 116, his fourth century of the season. The leaders would have to lose their three games for Thornes to have a chance of the title, but until it is impossible, they will fight on; whilst Doncaster still need one more win to banish any lingering fears of relegation. 

 

Doncaster T 228 (49.5) James Ward 33, Charlie Kaye 109, Matty Taylor 4-46, Orminder Singh 4-62 

Wakefield T 229-7 (48.3) Joe Billings 116*, Jawad Akhtar 30, James Dobson 3-62 

 

 

It was a hard-fought comparatively low-scoring game at Shaw Lane. Whilst Barnsley Woolley Miners are the only side of whom it can truly be said that they can neither win the league nor be relegated, they fought every inch of the way to claim the points against a Cleethorpes side whose need of the win was far greater. Runs did not come easily for either side, and it was Sheryaar Ali’s patient 58 off 90 balls that proved decisive. He took the home side to 142-4 before falling to Sameera Sadamal, after which Kieran Brooker took three cheap wickets and Sadamal another, as Barnsley subsided to 161-9. Matty Clegg and Jay Smith then added a further 26 precious runs to give their side something to bowl at. Cleethorpes also found run-scoring hard against accurate bowling, but they had the man for the job in skipper Bill Kirby. But after Kirby departed to Ollie Jackson for 46, fourth out at 106, wickets started to fall regularly, despite defiance from Ian Mansfield, and in the end the visitors fell nine short. Jay Smith was the most successful bowler for Barnsley, but skipper Beck Frostick and the dependable Ali Jahangir both bowled tight spells to apply pressure to the Cleethorpes batsmen. The visitors are only eight points clear of the relegation places, but their fate is still in their own hands. 

 

Barnsley WM 187-9 (50) Sheryaar Ali 58, Kieran Brooker 4-34 

Cleethorpes 178-9 (50) Bill Kirby 46, Ian Mansfield 47, Beck Frostick 3-25, Jay Smith 3-40 

 

Two experienced old hands were at the crease when Elsecar claimed this invaluable last-ball win over Sheffield Collegiate. Paul Fenn was the man who struck the winning hit, whilst Jason Meadows was a reassuring presence at the other end – he has seen it all before anyway. Some seven hours earlier, Collegiate had won the toss and decided to bat first, and Shaaiq Choudhry came to the crease when George Bartlett was the first man out at 25. At the end of the 50 overs, he was still there, unbeaten on 104 off 127 balls, and had shared half-century partnerships with Ed Mckenna, Sam Hunt and Henry Eldred, whilst steering his side to a very respectable 246-5. Bilal Anjam was the most successful visiting bowler with 3-68 in his 15 overs. It was Anjam too in the second innings who helped his side recover from the early loss of Sam Shaw through a second-wicket stand of 76 with Callum Higgins. Higgins then went on to add 98 for the third wicket with Kasheef Naveed, before being third out at 181. Tanzeel Ali fell soon after, but Naveed and Joe Denby added another 47 before both departing, in quick succession, to Henry Eldred. Then came the old men to finish the job – there are 50 overs per innings, and they used every last ball. Elsecar are still only ten points from the relegation places, but they have won their last two, and still have Cawthorne and Whiston to play. 

 

Sheffield Coll 246-5 (50) Will Hale 34, Shaaiq Choudhry 104*, Bilal Anjam 3-68 

Elsecar 247-6 (50) Callum Higgins 79, Bilal Anjam 32, Kashif Naveed 77 

 

Cawthorne won the toss at Baxter Field and asked Whitley Hall to bat first. The visitors had a significant early success when Taruwar Kohli removed James Moorhouse with only 20 on the board, but Matt Cartwright held the upper order together, and put on 68 for the fourth wicket with William Turner before falling to visiting skipper Liam Wiles. Turner took the score to 180-4 before being caught off the division's leading wicket-taker, Ahmed Matloob, for 40, which sparked four wickets falling for 37 runs, before Dan Waldron and Biswick Kapala added 35 in an enterprising unbroken ninth-wicket stand. Waldron and Kapala were soon in partnership together again, taking two wickets each as Cawthorne stumbled to 47-4. But Kade Fletcher (109 not out off 109 balls) and Archie Greaves then added 98 for the fifth wicket to pull their side back into the hunt. But after Greaves was bowled by Waldron, Kapala returned to the attack to take five more wickets, and Fletcher was left high and dry as his side fell 23 short with four overs left. Cawthorne are now eight points adrift of safety, whilst Whitley Hall are all but safe. 

 

Whitley Hall 252-8 (50) Matt Cartwright 75, William Turner 40, Ahmed Matloob 3-74, Liam Wiles 3-72 

Cawthorne 229 (46) Kade Fletcher 109*, Archie Greaves 30, Dan Waldron 3-51, Biswick Kapala 7-62