Cricket: Jackson's spin leaves Sheffield Collegiate dizzy

After the previous week’s complete abandonment in the 4 Probate & Wills ECB Yorkshire South Premier League, a full programme was gratefully seen in the first weekend of August.
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Cricket:

Game of the day saw second meet third as Collegiate travelled north to Barnsley and invited to bat first.

Collegiate made a decent start at 93-2 with Sam Hunt well placed on 45 from just 42 balls. However Oliver Jackson then intervened.

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His left arm spin then worked his way through the Collegiate line up. Several batsmen appeared to have got into their innings but then fell as the innings stumbled from 166-5 to 174 all out with only Shaaiq Choudhry (28) and Simon Guy (26) making scores of note.

Jackson finished with 5-34 with Dan Waldron picking up 3-29 in support. Barnsley’s reply was dominated by Jon Trower (74) and Harpreet Bhatia (72*).

Choudhry had taken the early wicket of Boeta Beukes but the Collegiate attack could not make further headway until Barnsley were just one run short of victory which was duly completed in 42 overs.

This took Barnsley second in the league and in hot pursuit of a faltering Doncaster side who lost a low scoring game at home to Treeton.

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Doncaster batted first but were soon in trouble at 8-3 thanks to an opening burst from Iftikhar Afzal. James Ward (24) steadied the ship and only received support from Aamir Jamal (25) in the lower order, as Vinnie Ogden (3-19) and particularly Haseeb-Ur Rahman (4-19) reduced the leaders to 104 all out in the 45th over.

The Treeton reply was a patient one, as Archie Ogden provided a key backbone. Steve Foster posted 23 and despite Luke Townsend taking 3-27, Ogden’s 46* from 104 balls saw Treeton to 105-5 in the 41st over and a third loss in four games for Doncaster.

Shock result of the week saw Hallam disrupt any plans Wakefield Thornes still held of a fourth successive title.

Thornes batted first and were soon in trouble at 26-3, thanks to 2-38 from James Smedley. Joe Cooper chipped in with two further wickets before Matthew Taylor stuck around to score 36, dragging the total towards respectability but 98-6 ended up at 144 all out as Andre Bradford (4-33) ran through the tail to finish the star with the ball for Hallam.

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The reply started positively with 50 runs scored in the first 11 overs, and the 100 partnership posted off just 111 balls, the perfect start from Alex Hughes and Bradford. Bradford perished for 40, but Hughes kept going and saw his side home with a superb knock of 96* from just 94 balls as Hallam reached 148-1 in just the 30th over, moving off the bottom of the table at a key point in the season.

Hallam’s mood would have been tempered somewhat by the news that near rivals Whitley Hall fell limply to a home defeat to relegation threatened Cleethorpes.

At 58-6, Cleethorpes were in deep trouble but late order hitting from Basheeru Walters struck 70 from just 64 balls with support from Joe Baker (23) taking the score to 175-9 from their 50 over allocation.

Abhishek Kulkarni’s 3-24 had made the early in roads for Whitley but Cleethorpes appeared to have made a significant escape from trouble, and so it proved. Whitley’s reply never recovered from 36-3 and 55-6 as wickets fell in clumps. The wickets were shared across the visiting attack although Alex Osmond’s 3-17 stood out as Whitley fell to 101 all out in just 36.4 overs.

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The highest scores of the day were at Aston Hall where visitors Wickersley picked up a vital win. The home side were in a strong position at 156-1 thanks to Usman Salah-Ud-Din (80) and Matthew Cartwright (63). Chris Durham (2-43) dismissed both and the momentum switched as Garry Park took advantage.

Park’s 4-70 in returning to the attack, limited any late order fireworks and Aston Hall felt light on runs setting a target of 208-7. Durham then took up the responsibility with the bat as Wickersley’s middle order responded well to the task in hand. Durham struck 66 and with 37 from Dave Rodgers, Wickersley finished on 212-5 in the 47th over, despite 2-32 from Josh Coulson.

The final game saw Tickhill leapfrog Elsecar with a win in a low scorer at Armroyd Lane. Tickhill inserted their hosts and set to work quickly, thanks to Binura Fernando.

He took 7-31 including a hat-trick to reduce Elsecar to 86 all out. Paul Cummins resisted with 26 from 84 balls, before falling to brother Mark. The reply was equally tough going for Tickhill but Mark Cummins anchored the innings with 26* and with Michael Jepps hitting 24, Tickhill resisted Saqib Hussain (2-20) to pick up a five wicket victory.

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This week sees Doncaster look to get back to winning ways at Elsecar while Hallam face a tough trip to the in-form Barnsley. Collegiate host Tickhill, Thornes take on Aston Hall and a relegation threatened duo match up in the shape of Wickersley at Whitley Hall. Finally Treeton head eat to Cleethorpes.

STANDINGS (17 games): Doncaster 144 points; Barnsley 126; COLLEGIATE 124; Treeton 112; Thornes 112; Tickhill 108; Elsecar 108; Wickersley 96; WHITLEY HALL 96; Cleethorpes 90; HALLAM 74; Aston Hall 72