The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Top-of-the-table clash for Town after a frustrating weekend
Peterborough Town have the perfect opportunity to wipe away the memory of a frustrating weekend when they travel to Northants Premier Division title rivals Old Northamptonians on Saturday.
Town were irritated by the loss of top spot to Finedon, despite beating Rushden & Higham by five wickets last Saturday, (more points are awarded for winning after batting first than after batting second) and then deflated by a five-wicket defeat at the hands of a slick Cambridge CC side in the area final of the ECB Club Championship 24 hours later.
But a game at the home of the team Town beat in a Premier Division play-off final last season will ensure minds are fully focussed. ONs are currently third in the Premier Division, 10 points behind Town and 11 off top spot.
Town hope to have opening bowler Jamie Smith and teenage batsman Sulemain Saleem back in the side after they missed the Cambridge defeat. Saleem’s presence should guard against the sort of batting collapse that spelt disaster against Cambridge.
Chris Milner’s 60 and 40 from skipper David Clarke had set Town up for a formidable 40-over total, but after reaching 131-1 in 25 overs they lost six wickets for just 11 runs and it took some fine batting from Mark Edwards (39no) to push them up to 204-9.
But Cambridge took advantage of some sloppy bowling early in their reply and they eventually cantered home with almost four overs to spare despite some promising leg-spin bowling from teenagers Karanpal Singh and Rohan Kundaje.
Town had delivered a strong fightback in each innings in their win at Rushden.
The hosts lost their last five wickets for seven runs to set Town a victory target of 188, but the city side needed an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 58 between Scott Howard (36) and Alex Mitchell (28) to get them home. Not for the first time this season Josh Smith took the man-of-the-match honours by following a spell of 4-25 with an innings of 63.
• Bourne’s Pete Morgan cracked a rare T20 ton as his side cruised to Lincs Winkworth Cup Finals Day with wins over hosts Market Deeping and Woodhall Spa.
Bourne pipped Deeping on run rate after a rain-affected contest before Morgan smacked a brilliant 114 not out to set up a 44-run win over Woodhall. Morgan hammered 10 fours and six sixes as Bourne amassed 196-3 to set up a semi-final against Lindum at Sleaford this Saturday. Victory will see a final against Bracebridge Heath or Grantham later in the day.