Awful collapse sees Ashbourne defeated
ASHBOURNE lost their last five wickets without adding a run to go down to their sixth defeat in seven matches in Derbyshire County League Division Five South.
But the batting collapse was only half of the story as they had also let Elvaston thirds off the hook in the first innings of the match, having had them struggling at 126-6.
After Charith De Silva had won the toss and put Elvaston in, a first-wicket stand of 41 was broken by two wickets in three balls from Arsherr Fernando.
From there, Ashbourne kept chipping away and after the fourth and fifth wickets both fell at 118, the fifth went eight runs later.
However, Zia Khushnud engineered a recovery for Elvaston, dominating a seventhwicket stand of 61, and by the time he was eighth out, for 61, the 200 was in sight.
Elvaston finished with 210 all out, Fernando having taken 4-29 from 10 overs.
Others had been less economical, with Chathura Lakruwan’s three wickets costing 55 from 10 overs.
The replay began well, Marcus Bateman and Uthum De Silva putting on 61 in good time.
When De Silva went for 27 and Bateman for 33, Richard Hill picked things up with a knock of 52 from 60 balls, with six fours and two sixes, bringing up his 50 with a straight six.
Wickets fell around him but had Hill been able to stay, it might have been a different story.
He was sixth man out, caught and bowled, with the score on 159 and Ashbourne folded from there.
Ashbourne seconds drew their Division Nine South West match at home to Lullington thirds, who posted 171-7 from their 40 overs after choosing to bat, with Charlie Birch taking 4-27 from nine overs.
Ashbourne were never in danger of losing but could not match the required run-rate and closed on 154-3, Liam Duffy making 45 not out and Colin Terry 46.
BRAILSFORD picked up an important win in their bid to stay away from the bottom of Division Three South, chasing down Elvaston seconds’ 180-8.
Ben Marsden made 92 for Elvaston before being bowled by
Rupert Sanderson, who took 4-47 in eight overs.
The reply did not start well, with two early wickets and a third at 79, but from there Matt Dowling (73 not out from 65 balls) and Alex Reid (54 not out from 47 balls) carried them home with a stand of 103 in only 30.1 overs.
In Division Six South, Brailsford seconds saw their useful total of 194-6 chased down easily by Darley Abbey seconds.
Vishal Bubber’s hard-hit 115 led the way for Brailsford as he and Isaac Glossop (29) put on 132 for the first wicket.
But Ben Handley, with 110 not out, and Tom Kent (46) trumped that with a secondwicket stand of 142 for Darley Abbey, which took them to within seven of their target as they won by eight wickets inside 30 overs.
Brailsford thirds conceded their Division Nine South West game to Kirk Langley.