Home defeat leaves Leek with a real fight to avoid relegation
LEEK dropped into the bottom two in the NSSCL Premier Division after a home defeat to title challengers Longton.
Leek’s defeat leaves them nine points from safety as Whitmore’s success against Stone SP left the Moorlanders in trouble.
Leek’s afternoon started off badly as they fell to 29-6 and 49-7 after skipper Alex Mellor had won the toss and elected to bat.
They were saved to a degree by Sam Slater, who compiled a half-century to lead them past three figures.
Slater hit seven fours in his 62, and with Joshua Hudson making 21 late on, Leek made their way to 125 all out.
All-rounder Tom Hope had swept through the Leek top order on his way to figures of 5-14. Alex Coates claimed a couple of victims.
Longton had few concerns in knocking off the runs to pocket a six-wicket win.
Joe Abbotts (39), Tom Steele (29) and Dan Ball (22) all impressed, despite a couple of wickets for Travis Townsend. Meakins paceman Karl High struck a decisive late double blow to help the NSSCL Premier Division leaders overcome stubborn Bagnall Norton resistance.
Meakins had amassed 246 all out, but visitors Bagnall Norton provided a stern challenge after tea as they dug deep in the win/lose/draw format.
Shoaib Akhtar made 26 for Bagnall Norton, but it was captain Justin Mould who looked to be securing his side a draw.
Mould compiled an unbeaten 62, featuring seven fours and two sixes, before High returned for another spell of left-arm seam to break through.
In the closing stages of the contest he dismissed Mark Stokes lbw and bowled last man Nyle Broadhurst to wrap up the Bagnall Norton innings for 185.
High finished with 4-44, Staffordshire leftarm spinner Paul Byrne claimed 3-46 and there were a couple of wickets for experienced seamer Matthew Redican.
It was the same trio who had starred with the bat as well to lead Meakins out of a sticky situation earlier in the afternoon. County pair Michael Hill and Peter Wilshaw had contributed 27 apiece, but Meakins were reduced to 115-7 to leave Bagnall Norton pretty happy with their lot.
But High and Byrne joined forces to compiled an eighth-wicket stand of 102 to turn the tables.
High blazed a 47-ball 58, featuring four fours and three sixes, with Byrne showing off his batting talent with 41.
And with Redican chipping in with a typically entertaining 21 not out, Meakins managed to navigate their way to a highly-competitive total.
Alex Graham (4-39) and Broadhurst (3-44) were the pick of the Bagnall Norton attack.
But they couldn’t deny the frontrunners with the bat as Meakins moved five points clear at the summit.
High-flying Stone SP fell further off the pace in fourth after suffering back-to-back defeats.
They had become the first team to lose to Ashcombe Park last week - and another struggling side, Whitmore, had their number on Saturday.
Whitmore captain Matt Mcall led the front with 75 to form the backbone of Whitmore’s 213-9 from their 50 overs.
Mcall hit eight boundaries and received fine support from Danyal Hussain (33) and Piers Copeland (32).
Henry Mountford scooped 4-59 for Stone SP and there were a couple of wickets for allrounder EJ Laverty.
In reply, Stone SP skipper Sam Graham continued his fine form with 50 - including six fours - but aside from Dan Lunn’s 24, Stone SP failed to fire.
And their innings came to a conclusion with the score on 124 as Adeel Arshad captured 3-29 and both Mcall and Lee Johnson struck twice.
Ashcombe Park couldn’t back up last weekend’s victory over Stone SP as they were beaten at Burslem.
Sam Rowley’s 55, allied to 23 from Raj Kumar, helped Burslem to 172 all out.
Josh Johnson took 4-28 for Ashcombe Park. Nathan Ball and Mahaaz Ahmed shared four wickets.
Ashcombe Park couldn’t find any momentum in their run chase and were dismissed for 112 in the 39th over.
Philip Clowes top-scored with 29, but Michael Brown’s 4-11 ensured that the points remained at Festival Heights.
Moddershall & Oulton and Checkley drew their meeting.
Visitors Checkley took first use and posted 212 all out.
That was largely thanks to a 107-run fourthwicket stand between Simon Guy and Scott Elstone
Guy struck seven fours and one six in his 57 and Elstone found the boundary on eight occasions in his 51.
Ben Haselgrave made a useful 22 down the order, while Dan Colclough and Tom Spruce claimed 4-26 and 3-51 respectively.
The Modd men were slow out of the blocks after the tea interval and fell to 12-3.
However Alex Price (52) steadied the ship before Callum Hawkins (42no) and Dan Richardson (29) led them to 175-7 at the end of their 50 overs.
Shazad Liaqat, Richard Cooper and James Cronie all took two wickets.