Leek Post & Times

Little Stoke come so close to ending their losing streak at Leycett

-

Bottom-of-the-table Little Stoke came close to ending their winless run at Leycett.

Leycett piled up 270-5 on the back of 82 from Dan Redfern, which contained 11 boundaries, and Rajpal Beniwal’s 80, which came off just 34 balls and contained six fours and seven sixes.

David Speakman had made 44 at the top of the Leycett order.

Little Stoke, who have lost every game in t NSSCL Division One so far, fell to 41-3, but hopes were renewed by Eranaga Rathnayake and James Ecclestone.

Rathnayake made 81 and Ecclestone chipped in with 83... and Little Stoke soon found themselves 220-4.

But they couldn’t complete the mission or hold out for a draw - despite Chris Mobley’s 36 - as they were bowled out for 258.

Andrew Cooper took 4-49 and there were a couple of wickets apiece for Matt Johnson, Redfern and Tom Warburton.

Newcastle & Hartshill won by two wickets at Eccleshall.

Tom Hibbert’s 43 and 41 from Scott Winnington were the main contributi­ons to Eccleshall’s 143 all out. Asif Raza did the bulk of the damage with 5-20, in conjunctio­n with two wickets from Rich Hagan and Oliver Tucker.

Ben Thomas (4-31) and Winnington (3-28) kept the outcome on a knife-edge after tea, but Raza’s 37, 27 from Mitchell Kelsall, and Liam Williams’ 25 helped Castle to the points.

Hem Heath suffered their first defeat of the season, but remain top after closest challenger­s Elworth were also beaten.

Hem Heath’s record came to an end at home against Knypersley, who moved up to third place in the process.

Hem Heath appeared to be in the driving seat at home against Knype after dismissing the visitors for 134.

Asad Afridi made 34 and Darren Butler chipped in with 22, but Ben Lucas’ 3-25 and double strikes from Liam Banks and Nazakat Ali prevented Knype from posting a bigger total.

Banks replied with 31, but at 109-9, Hem Heath were firmly on the ropes.

However, Zephryn Hunte (29) and Tom Hodson (8no) kept their hopes alive... and took the score to 131 before the former was dismissed to earn Knypersley a three-run success.

Afridi caused the bulk of the damage with 5-17, allied to two wickets apiece from Liam

Hopkins and Joe Dutton.

It was Danny Baker, though, who made the decisive strike by trapping Hunte lbw to end the Hem Heath innings.

Knypersley are now 21 points off the top, while Elworth are 11 adrift following their loss at Audley.

Sandyford overcame a shocking start to their run chase to win at Blythe.

Chasing 91 for victory, Sandyford were reduced to 5-4, but found their composure.

Captain Jonathan Barnett made 42 not out and Aunn Shah added 32 to eventually steer them to a five-wicket win. Toby Degg caused the early consternat­ion with 4-22.

Muhammad Naveed had earlier claimed 6-21 to rout Blythe for just 90, despite Tom Lowe making 25.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom