Yorkshire South cricket: Hunt’s 57 can’t save Collegiate from defeat in match of the day

A week of low scoring close games in the 4 Probate & Wills ECB Yorkshire South Premier League last weekend saw Doncaster maintain their league at the top.
Collegiate CC batting at Abbeydale against Wakefield ThornesCollegiate CC batting at Abbeydale against Wakefield Thornes
Collegiate CC batting at Abbeydale against Wakefield Thornes

Doncaster battled past local rivals Tickhill thanks to some patient batting from their middle order with James Ward’s 50 the highlight.Duncan Heath weighed in with 32 but Alex Rowland excelled for Tickhill with 3-42 to restrict Doncaster to 164-7 from the 42 over allocation. The Tickhill reply looked in fine shape at 92-1 with Ross Diver 53*, but Heath took up the bowling mantle and ran through the visiting line up. Tickhill lost their last nine wickets for just 33 as Heath took 7-35 in 12.4 overs to see Doncaster home by 39 runs and a 22 point gap maintained at the top of the league.The big game of the day saw third placed Wakefield Thornes visit Abbeydale to play second placed Collegiate. A 46 over game saw accurate bowling dominate the game, with only Sam Hunt with 57 make a score of any note for Collegiate after they chose to bat first. Satyajeet Bachhav was the architect for Thornes with an amazing spell of 5-15 from 15 overs as Collegiate stumbled to 42-6. A patient 24 from Henry Eldred and 21 from Matthew Lee hauled Collegiate to 135-8 from 46 overs. Thornes found run scoring no easier in reply, but David Toft struck a quickfire 41 to get Thornes ahead of the game and with Bachhav adding 21, Thornes survived 3-44 from Lee to reach their target for the loss of 7 wickets in the 36th over.The result took Thornes clear in second place and saw Collegiate drop to fifth as Barnsley continued their excellent recent form with the only home win of the weekend over Elsecar. The visitors elected to bat first at Shaw Lane and Saeed Anwar top scored with 66, posting a 63 run 3rd wicket partnership with Ian Swallow (31).However Oliver Jackson picked up 3-36 for Barnsley as Elsecar lost four for nine and were restricted to 155-7 from 50 overs.Barnsley’s reply started well with Jon Trower (53) and Harpreet Bhatia (55*) compiling a key second wicket partnership of 51 after Trower combined with Boeta Beukes in a 53 run opening stand to snuff out Elsecar’s hopes of a surprise. Charlie Kaye was miserly in a five over spell of 1-13, but Barnsley reached their target for just two wickets lost and with four overs in hand.Also benefitting from Collegiate’s loss were Treeton who enjoyed a 42 run victory over rivals Whitley Hall. Treeton made first use of the pitch and were very well placed at 177-2 thanks to 72 from Steve Foster and 50 from Chris Cobb. Sam Drury (36) and George Barnes (25) scored quick runs in the last few overs while James Brown took 3-74 for Whitley as Treeton finished 259-8. The reply started poorly for Whitley as Iftikhar Afzal (2-36) reduced the score to 33-2. The middle order recovered somewhat, although the top score from Neil Longhurst of 32 was never enough to really threaten the target.Greig Batty and Danial Rafiq both posted 29 and some late order hitting from Matthew Godden (36) took Whitley to 217 all out, Vinnie Ogden taking the bowling plaudits for Treeton with 4-84.Aston Hall picked up another good win, this time a nail-biter on the east coast against Cleethorpes. Matt Cartwright posted 78 for Aston Hall, with contrasting support from Johannes Bothma (37 from 31 balls) and Dean Smith (23 from 54 balls), took the target for Cleethorpes to 205-7. Basheeru Walters (3-41) and Jordan Cook (3-54) were the Cleethorpes bowling highlights. Cleethorpes were also grateful to an opener, in the shape of Bill Kirby who posted 75 in the reply. He combined with Tom Rollinson (50) to post 85 for the fourth wicket, but his dismissal at 180-6 saw Aston turn the screw and restrict their hosts to just three runs from the last three balls to halt them just short at 203-8 and a two run victory for Aston Hall. Their good result was tempered by news that Wickersley had kept pace with a win over the bottom side Hallam at Crimicar Lane.Wickersley chose to field and made early inroads on their hosts batting, with Garry Park showing well. Hallam were in trouble at 44-5 and only Nick Dymock (36) and Jack Snelling (30) preventing further trouble.Park finished with 4-36 as Hallam eventually fell for 139 in the 42nd over. Dave Rodgers gave Wickersley the start they needed with a characteristically attacking 50 and although Robert Heyes took 3-39 for Hallam, Wickersley were comfortable in winning at 140-3 inside 33 overs.This week game of the day is at Doncaster as in form Barnsley arrive. Thornes play Elsecar and Treeton take on Tickhill. Collegiate go to Wickersley, Cleethorpes go to Hallam and Aston Hall face another key game at home to Whitley Hall.