Hem Heath grind their way to tense NSSCL Premier A victory
CREDIT: Chris Travers Deputy Sports Editor/Cricket Writer @ Stoke Sentinel
Round up of all the latest North Staffs and South Cheshire League Premier A action as Meakins, Bagnall Norton, Moddershall & Oulton, Porthill Park and Stone SP also secure wins
PREMIER A
Hem Heath held their nerve to take the points from their NSSCL Premier A home clash against Newcastle & Hartshill.
Hem Heath were set 120 for victory, but the run chase provided plenty of twists and turns before the home side eventually prevailed by two wickets.
Early impacts were made by skipper Greg Prime (27), Sam Wilcox (16) and Zephryn Hunte (13), but Castle bagged regular wickets to leave Hem Heath 86-8.
Rich Hagan’s 4-33 and a couple of wickets for Dan Gibbs left the outcome on a knife-edge at that point.
However, Tom Hodson and Ray Toole dug in to construct a key 61-minute partnership as they chipped away the required runs.
And despite Castle throwing everything they had at the pair, Hodson (23no) and Toole (16no) managed to navigate their side to the winning line in the 52nd over.
Newcastle & Hartshill had been dismissed for 119 in the formative stages of the contest.
Muhammad Qamar Khan top-scored with 48, while Andy Whitehead (19) and Gamindu Kanishka (17) also made starts.
But Castle slipped from 81-4 as three wickets apiece for Liam Banks and Hodson – who both claimed 3-29 – and double strikes for Toole and Callum Leese kept the target within range for the hosts.
Porthill Park beat the division’s table-toppers for the second successive weekend as they saw off the challenge of Checkley.
Louis Allison’s men had defeated Leek the previous Saturday, which knocked the Moorlanders off their perch. And they repeated the feat by comfortably winning by seven wickets at the Old County Ground this time around.
Checkley suffered something of a collapse as they fell from 137-4 to 177 all out on their road trip.
Nils Priestley made the biggest contribution with 46, while Tom Carrigan (37), James Kettleborough (25), James Abbotts (23) and Michael Allen (20) all chipped in.
Senior stars Craig Barker and John Hancock finished with 3-32 and 3-44 respectively, with the remaining wickets being shared by Yohan Maddege and Ben Holt.
The destination of the points soon became clear after the interval as Tom Steele and Tom Longworth compiled a second-wicket stand of 126.
Longworth hit 15 fours in a 67-ball 80 before being dismissed, but Steele batted throughout the chase to steer Porthill Park home.
Steele walked off on 63 not out, featuring nine fours, with Matt Coxon (24no) keeping him company at the business end.
Deepak Dhapola took two wickets for Checkley, but it wasn’t enough to bring an end to their seven-match winning run.
Checkley remain top, though, and are eight points clear, after closest challengers Leek were beaten at Moddershall & Oulton.
Joe Hawkins and Sam Kelsall made 22 apiece for the Modd men, but their innings was held together by Callum Hawkins. The Staffordshire wicketkeeper-batsman made an unbeaten 70, including eight fours and two sixes, to guide Moddershall & Oulton to 202-7 from their 55 overs.
Late order support came in the shape of Dan Richardson’s 24 and 22 not out from Danushka Sandaruwan. Rory Haydon and Matthew Campbell took two wickets each for Leek.
Leek’s reply never really got off the ground, despite Campbell’s 30, 21 from Sam Slater and 18 from Alex Mellor.
They were bowled out for 119 as Sandaruwan helped himself to 4-11, and there were two scalps for Sam Atkinson.
Stone SP are in third place after an England international helped them to victory over Longton.
Stone SP were chasing 184 for the points, but even though William Alsbury made 35, they were reduced to 94-5.
Matheesha Perera (3-31) kept Longton in the game, but England Over-50s batsman Richard Harvey and captain Dan Lunn wouldn’t be moved.
Harvey used all of his experience to compile 80 not out, hitting nine fours and two sixes, with Lunn adding an unbeaten 31 as Stone SP clinched a five-wicket triumph.
Tom Hope had earlier made 65 in Longton’s 183-7 from their allocation.
Hope’s knock contained 12 boundaries, with Alex McChristie (42no) and Dane Tinsley (23) also in fine fettle. There were double strikes from James Green and Jack Batchelor.
Meakins took the points on their visit to Alsager. Hosts Alsager won the toss and elected to bat, but found themselves all out for 117.
Jalat Khan bowled a superb spell to take 3-11 from 11.1 overs, with Ash Shaw chipping in with 3-24. There were also two victims for Amaan Tariq.
Yash Kothari (37), Greg Phillips (24) and Asif Raza (17) made the most progress with the bat for the home side.
Youngster Callum Wilshaw (35) fronted the Meakins run chase, but the visitors were reduced to 78-6.Jack Hammond made 12 to help his team to 111 before he fell, with Simon Mugava (33no) completing a three-wicket win.
Raza, Manraj Johal and Tom Bason shared six of the wickets to fall.
Bagnall Norton overcame some late Audley resistance to win on their trip to Kent Hills.
Matthew Arnold picks up more runs on his way to a half-century for Bagnall Norton in their NSSCL Premier A victory over Audley.(Image: Alfie Shenton)
Bagnall Norton put themselves in a strong position by piling up 223-8 in the early part of the meeting.
Opener Matthew Arnold anchored proceedings with 61, which contained seven fours.
And his lead was followed by Josh Cartledge (35), Justin Mould (33no), Anuj Tiwari (32) and Morgan Murray-Williams (22) as the runs flowed in the sunshine.
Seamer Alex Coates shrugged off the hot conditions to finish with an excellent 6-49.
Steve Stolk (31), Archie Doorbar (24) and Ed Jones (18) made the most headway in reply, but at 139-9, the game looked to be all over for Audley.
However, last pair Ben Mellor and Huey Nield dug in to frustrate Bagnall Norton and advance the score to 184 before Nield departed for 16.
That left Mellor unbeaten on 56, an innings which featured nine fours.
Murray-Williams was the pick of the visitors’ attack, taking 4-35, with Scott Winnington helping himself to 3-43 and Nyle Broadhurst claiming a double.
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PREMIER B
Eccleshall maintain fine form to stay out in front in NSSCL Premier B
There are wins for Knypersley, Burslem, Whitmore and Wood Lane in North Staffs and South Cheshire League Premier B, while Ashcombe Park and Elworth draw
Eccleshall continue to set the standard in NSSCL Premier B after beating bottom-of-the-table Leycett.
The table-toppers are 15 points clear at the summit after banking yet another success.
They were in dominant form with the bat first of all as they amassed 293-6 declared from 47 overs in Saturday’s encounter.
The tone was set by Eccleshall openers Ben Rogerson and Chris Plant, who put on 112 for the first wicket.
Rogerson hit 13 fours in his 63, with Plant’s 57 featuring nine boundaries.
Greg Clark then took centre stage with a rapid 98, hitting 12 fours and three sixes along the way.
Rhys Owens chipped in with 31 late on, while Jaidel Richardson and Isaac McDonald took two wickets each for the visitors.
Leycett showed plenty of spirit in their reply, not least Richardson who plundered six fours and seven sixes in his 77.
Reece White made 43 and Matt Johnson contributed 27, but Leycett were eventually dismissed for 231.
Andrew Calvert and Matthew Wright picked up 4-58 and 3-57 respectively, with Myles Coughlan claiming a double.
Second-placed Wood Lane maintain the pressure on the leaders by winning their home derby against Bignall End.
Bignall End were in all sorts of trouble early on as they tumbled to 22-6.
However, Hamid Ali orchestrated a fine recovery to enable the away side to finish on 162 all out.
Ali smashed 12 fours and six sixes in his 95, with support coming from Aunn Shah (15), Ali Khan-Ahmadzai (12) and Ben Dixon (10).
Zaighum Abbas (5-37) and Eddie Visser (4-30) took the bowling plaudits for Wood Lane.
Ben McGuire and Jake Thompson both made 53 in Wood Lane’s chase to set their side on the road to victory.
Jake Thompson made 53 in Bignall End’s North Staffs and South Cheshire League Premier B win against Bignall End.(Image: Pete Stonier / Stoke Sentinel)
And Visser then compiled 33 not out to wrap up a four-wicket success, despite the best efforts of George Harding (4-37).
Cheadle dropped from second to third after losing at fifth-placed Whitmore.
Visitors Cheadle took first use and found their way to 205-9 from 55 overs.
Craig Smith top-scored for the Moorlanders with 56, an innings which contained eight fours and one six.
Andrew Coxon (42), Matthew Sellers (27) and Ali Khan (22) also helped to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Matt McAll captured 4-42 for Whitmore, with double strikes coming from Muhammad Imran and Bilal Hussain.
Caleb Mierkalns made 27 in Whitmore’s run chase, but Cheadle held the upper hand by reducing their hosts to 54-4.
But Saad Qureshi (41) and Imran put on 97 for the fifth wicket to reignite Whitmore’s hopes.
And although Qureshi fell, Imran was in no mood to waste his hard work as he made 98 not out to see Whitmore to their target, five wickets down.
Imran’s innings included 10 fours and seven sixes, while James Sellers and Sam Akram both took two wickets for Cheadle.
Burslem, in fourth, maintained their interest in the promotion picture by comfortably winning at Norton in Hales.
A solid bowling performance from the visitors left Norton in Hales all out for 139 in the first half of the contest.
Seamer Dilesh Gunarathne led the way with 3-28, backed up by two wickets apiece for Callum Harrison, Matthew Morris and Eranga Dissanagge.
Aaron Thomason top-scored with 42 for the home side, with Isaac Foster and Ronan Farnell both weighing in with 22.
Burslem required just 26.3 overs to complete an eight-wicket victory.
Shoaib Akhtar (43), Eklavya Gupta (39no), Morris (35) and Dissanagge (24no) all played their part in the successful chase. Anthony Sheeran took both of the wickets to fall.
Knypersley made home advantage count to see off the challenge of Hem Heath seconds.
It was Hem Heath who ventured out to the crease first and they managed to post 170-9 from their 55 overs.
Matt Rogerson’s 36 not out was the principal contribution to their cause, with Oscar Bradshaw (32), Ben Lucas (24), Yohan Liyanage (23) and Ben Pugh (20) also playing their part.
Daniyal Hussain Rajput claimed 4-34 for Knype and there were a couple of wickets for Dominic Cumberbatch.
The Knypersley reply proved to be a topsy-turvy affair.
Rajput showed his quality to make 76, featuring 11 fours and one six.
And with Cameron Allen (22) and Liam Hopkins (13) also chipping in, the home side completed a two-wicket victory.
Rogerson completed a decent individual day with 3-31 and there were two wickets for Oliver Edwards, but Hem Heath fell just short.
Ashcombe Park and Elworth shared the points from their clash.
Visitors Elworth fell to 11-3 in the early part before a fourth-wicket stand of 102 between Russ Ballard and Ash Rogers put them back on the right path.
Ballard struck seven fours in his 61, with Rogers’ 58 containing seven boundaries and three sixes.
And there was a third 50 of the innings later on as Harry Newton contributed 57 not out as Elworth closed on 209-9 from their allocation.
Max Hill and Anis Raza claimed 3-37 and 3-39 respectively for Ashcombe Park, with Jamie Ball scooping a couple of scalps.
In reply, David Proffitt made 56, featuring eight fours, Riecko Parker-Cole chipped in with 46, Haroon Mahmood made 23 and Hill added 20.
However, Ashcombe Park had to dig in for a draw – closing on 187-9 – after James Burnett (3-40) and Newton (3-21) put Elworth in the driving seat.
CREDIT: Chris Travers Deputy Sports Editor/Cricket Writer @ Stoke Sentinel
