Twos secure 8 wicket win with perfect performance

Sileby Town Second XI secured their first win of the season with an emphatic 8 wicket victory over Loughborough Carillon at Mill Lane.

Chris Bulmer's 66 helped Sileby Town 2's
cruise to an 8 wicket win.

Sam Gale and Phil Chamberlain lead the line with exemplary figures of 3-18 and 3-28 respectively and they were duly backed up with a fine bowling spell between Ryan Dawson and Asim Khan with two wickets apiece as Carillon were bowled out for a lowly 127.

Chris Bulmer (66) lead the response along with the returning Matt Willett (35) as they enjoyed an opening stand of 108 before Bulmer departed. Joe Charity and Rob Moore ensured the home side to victory.

Mo Khan, looking to avenge last season's disappointment of missing out on promotion, won the toss and asked the visitors to bat first.

Pritesh Patel (6) and Mayur Keshwala (7) appeared to have struggled against the new ball before the latter fell to Chamberlain as he drove on the up to pick out Micky Ruddle at short-extra cover as the first wicket fell with just 17 runs on the board.

The visitor's then lost their second wicket as Patel spooned Gale's short delivery to Charity at square leg to find themselves at 19-2.

Trimingham (2), Harland (2) and Harrison (13) were unable to stop the rot as they soon found themselves back in the hut with the scores at 43-5. Dawson picking up his first wicket of the afternoon removing Harrison in the process.

Sileby continued to apply the pressure on Carillon as Ananthanarayan (3) gifted Chamberlain's third wicket of the afternoon and Gamlyn (4), bowled by Dawson for his second wicket, were dismissed with just 54 on the board with only three wickets in hand.

Andrew Capel and Patel (19) were able to repair the top order's damage with an eighth wicket stand of 50 as they managed to reach 104 before Capel was bowled by Asim Khan for a respectable 34. Nitant Desai (0) followed suit picking out Bulmer at gully and it was left for Gale to skittle out Carillon as Cade Faulkner-Turner (12) who also found Bulmer, this time at mid-wicket.

Bulmer and Willett looked comfortable with the chase. The former, continuing with his attacking nature, hit eight fours and three maximum's in his 66 before Gamlyn picked up their first wicket of the afternoon.

With just two runs required, Willett, looking to win the game in style edged behind to Harrison as Faulkner-Turner picked up a second consolation wicket before Charity (12*) hit the winning runs with a four.

The home side's dominating performance with both bat and ball will have made an early statement as Khan's side fell short of promotion in last year's campaign finishing third behind Enderby and Barwell.

Sileby will look to add to the first win of the season as they travel to Coventry Road as they face Lutterworth 2's next weekend.

Rothery: Workington win was deserved

In what was a dramatic final few minutes between Guiseley AFC and Workington AFC, midfielder Gavin Rothery was delighted to come away from the Bank Holiday fixture with all three points, thanks to a late Jake Lawlor header, deep into stoppage time.

The 25 year-old also believes the win was deserved.

He said: “I think overall, yeah. We had to ground it out in the end, so obviously it wasn’t pretty but the boys dug in well and we got the win in the end, and especially to what happened to us on Saturday as well, drawing in the last minute, it evened it out.”

The Lions are now three games unbeaten, since losing their first game of the season to Solihull Moors and Rothery is starting to feel the confidence is growing.

“I think a lot of the boys are starting to get in to it a bit more now, and it gives you a bit of confidence with the win in the last minute.”

The game lacked spark in the first half, but mid-way through the second period both sides went in search of that all-important winner.

“They had a couple of breakaways, and we had a few too. Danny (Ellis) had one cleared off the line with a few balls going in to the box and when Adam (Priestley) came on, he had a couple of decent efforts. We could have nicked it earlier, but the boys did well and obviously we got the result in the end and that is the main thing.”

Despite consecutive play-off heartbreaks, Rothery feels the Lions are capable of mounting a promotion push again this season.

He said: “I think we need to pick it up to be fair, get back to playing how we used to, like last season hopefully, get passing the ball again. 

"I think we are going a bit too long sometimes and it’s getting cut out. If we can pass the ball like we can do, we will murder teams but it’s just getting in to that habit again.

“If we look after ourselves, we can beat anyone in this league, we just have to do the business really and put the performances in.”

Dale backs Lions for promotion

Guiseley’s second half dominant display over Wakefield on Tuesday night overcame a first half one-nil deficit at the Rapid Solicitor’s Stadium to record a 3-1 victory over the Evo-Stick League Northern Premier – First Division North side and winger Zack Dale is confident the Lions can better last season’s heartbreak.

The midfielder came on as a second-half substitute for Wayne Brooksby and his assist to Phil Marsh who duly slotted home to wrap up the match.

Dale believes that if Guiseley can finish with the same points as last season, the Lions have a good chance of winning promotion.

He said: “We can’t do much better can we, getting 90 odd points and not going up? We can do the same and we could win the league with 90 odd points.

“Tonight, it looked like we had more fire in our belly’s, we looked more hungry for it towards the end of the game.

“I thought we done well tonight. But we had a few chances that we had, but it could have been a bigger margin tonight.”

Dale is highly rated by manager Steve Kittrick and no doubt he will be looking for a start when they face Solihull Moors at Nethermoor Park for the first game of the season.

Test Series in the Balance

The Second Test in Mumbai was a must win after their struggle in Ahmedabad, and England duly delivered thanks to the outstanding Monty Panesar.

After their mauling by India- losing the First Test by nine wickets-  along with their series defeat to South Africa in England and subsequent loss their number one Test status, Coach Andy Flower and his troops were under pressure to perform.

It was clear that the introduction of Monty Panesar was a huge lift for the England camp. On an Indian pitch that turned square and in humid conditions which favoured spin bowlers, the Three Lions again faced conditions which were evidently used wisely by MS Dhoni in the First Test. Alastair Cook had only four recognised bowlers at his disposal in Ahmedabad with James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan all being seamers alongside the one spinner in Graeme Swann. Samit Patel and Kevin Pietersen had to be used to make up for the team failing to pick Panesar-Patel bowling 31 overs with figures of 1-96 and Pietersen at 1-25 from his eight overs. It is hard to understand why they did not choose Panesar over Patel.

However, Flower and captain Cook did not make the same mistake second time round and Panesar showed why they should have picked him in the First Test. Bowling in tandem with off-spinner Swann, Panesar helped restrict the hosts to 327 all out. Monty’s 5-129 from 47 overs had given the visitors a chance, not to mention an incredible 4-70 from Swann in his 34.1 overs.

Cheteshwar Pujara showed his class yet again for the home side- the 24-year old right handed batsman hit 135 from 350 balls. It was an innings which did not just show classic stroke-making, but valuable time and patience. To be able to bat for such a long time shows incredible courage to maintain such a high standard, and pundits have witnessed a mix between Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in the number 3.

Cook, leading by example in England’s reply, continued his impressive form by scoring a century of his own along with the highly-profiled Pietersen, who silenced his critics after months of criticism pre and post the South Africa test series.

Cook and Pietersen racked up a 206 run partnership for the third wicket, a fine response to the first Test’s shambles-Pietersen must now pick up from where he left off in the third Test. England have lacked a free-flowing run-scorer in Pietersen, and his valuable runs were sorely missed.

How much of a statement did Panesar and Swann make in India’s second innings response? Together, the spin twins’ figures of 10-124 showed a remarkable effort to bowl out India for just 142. Many congratulations go to Panesar for finishing with match figures of 11-210- An 11 wicket haul is hard to collect in any type of format, especially in India, with their backs against the wall to win a Test and stay in the series Panesar can be so proud of such an achievement.

A fine ten wicket victory for the tourists was sealed by an aggressive partnership between Cook and the impressive Nick Compton to tie the series at 1-1 going in to the third Test in Kolkata.

The penultimate Test could see ‘fit-again’ Steven Finn return to replace Vice-captain Stuart Broad, who has now failed to take a single wicket in the first two Tests. Finn has been unavailable due to a thigh injury, but he pulled through a thorough net session at Eden Gardens on Monday having bowled well in a practice match in midweek. Despite Broad picking up 40 Test wickets this calendar year, he has struggled for form in India.

England cannot afford to rest easy as they look to regain their number one status from rivals South Africa as soon as possible. The South Africans made a statement of their own by demolishing Australia in Perth this week and will not be giving up top spot without a fight.

Superb Sileby hammer hapless Harborough as Second's slowly secure survival

Sileby Town claimed just their third victory of the season on Saturday winning by 7 wickets against Market Harborough 2nd XI at Mill Lane.

It was an all-round accomplished performance by the Division 2 outfit, lead by stand-in skipper Micky Ruddle for the second week running, despite the side’s heavy defeat to Loughborough Town last weekend.

Ruddle won the toss, and with a bit of cloud cover, he elected to field first, and Sileby got off to a fantastic start with seamer Fred Notman dismissing captain Chris Gordon, edging behind to Ruddle at second slip for a fifth ball duck.

Just four overs later, Notman picked up his second victim, dismissing George Bott for 5 bowling the opener with the score on 13-2.

A tidy partnership of 28 between M Collins and M Pozarskis gave the visitors a little bit of stability in the top order, but it was Adam Hackett with the breakthrough for the third wicket, with the latter having his leg stump bail removed as he departed for 12.

M Collins found himself back in the hutch just two overs later falling to Hackett for his second of the day. The young right hander looked in good form for his patient 26 before the seamer’s short and wide delivery had the number three cutting straight to Charity at second gully.

With the score now on 44-4, Harborough’s collapse seemed comparably similar to Sileby’s last week, but the boot was on the other foot, fortunately for the home side and within the space of just over an over, R Collins (0) and Clarke (2) fell to medium pacers Ruddle and Dawson respectively as Harborough were now six down for just 48 runs.

Ramdeen and Williams offered some resistance for the seventh wicket. For 43 deliveries, Williams resistance assisted Ramdeen as he was allowed to score relatively freely in a partnership of 32.

But after much pressure, Ramdeen succumbed to Ruddle as he picked out Notman at mid-off for 19.

Notman’s re-introduction was rewarded with the wicket of Williams’ who tried his best to dig his side out of the hole they were in, but the stubborn lower order batsman edged behind to Sean Dudley for his 4.

The tailend offered a lot of resistance with Kirk and Sadd both biding their time, hoping to make it to 45 overs. The left handed Kirk had played elegantly as he looked to salvage the top order damage that Notman and Hackett had caused early on.

Sadd was rewarded with two lifelines as Charity had spilled two fairly easy chances that could have put the first innings to bed, but the number ten ably supported Kirk as he crashed his way to 28 with five fours to his name.

But Kirk became Ruddle’s third wicket before off-break bowler Charity removed Moss for a golden duck with his first delivery, leaving the away side to defend just 129 in 45 overs.

Notman ended up with fine figures of 10-2-26-3, whilst Hackett’s 2-48, Ruddle 3-29 and Dawson’s 1-21 displayed a pleasing bowling performance overall.

Kindleysides and Dudley shared a fine stand of 55 for the first wicket, before Kindleysides was dismissed by Kirk for 27.

Dudley’s patient 32 from 64 balls soon came to an end when Pozarskis trapped the opener in front of the stumps leaving the score on 106-2.

Gethin King did not mess about as he made 32 from just 21 balls but he gifted Harborough a bowling point as he was caught off the bowling of R Collins, with just nine to win.

Ford and Charity eventually reached the target, inevitably, as Sileby recorded their first 24 points of the season boosting their chances of survival.

Sileby’s win means they go above Leicester Ivanhoe (151) by just three points, but leaves them 16 points clear of second bottom Quorn 138, as they now head to lowly Lutterworth  2nds (118), full of confidence.

Sileby suffer setback as Town trounce two’s

Loughborough Town 2nd XI capitalised on Hinckley Town’s shock defeat to Ibstock Town on Saturday afternoon after they defeated Sileby Town 2nd XI by 9 wickets at Park Road.

The hosts started the day in second place, five points behind promotion chasing Hinckley Town before their demolition job of Sileby Town allowed them to regain top spot with just six games left of the Everards Division 2 season.

Sileby were light on their bowlers this week, with Ryan Dawson promoted to the 1st XI.

And it was Micky Ruddle who took over the captaincy from Mo Khan, who joined Ryan Dawson in the 1st XI, and it was a day to forget.

After losing the toss, the visitors got off to a bad start, with Gethin King (0) being bowled with the first ball of the game by Kyle Saddington, to a wonderful inswinging delivery putting Sileby on the back foot almost immediately.

Saddington picked up his second wicket, dismissing Joe Charity (1) caught in the slips with the score 1-2.

Charles Kindleysides and Jack Ford had the task of recovering Sileby’s top order collapse, but the off-spin of experienced Martin Gidley had tempted Kindleysides to go over the in-field, but his drive did not have the legs to beat mid-on departing for 19.

Ford (20) followed falling to Gidley sweeping, and despite a brief partnership of 23 with Ruddle, Dan Tompkins fell to Sagar Patel for 8.

The returning Nigel Kinch shared a partnership of 59 for the sixth wicket, elevating Sileby’s weak score from 73-5 to 132-6, until Ruddle (34) was caught at long-on, looking for the maximum from Nil Patel.

Kinch (36) was stumped and Adam Hackett along with Fred Notman helped post 147 in their 45 overs.

Loughborough’s response lead by Joe Purvis and Gidley, and followed up by Saddington, took just over 27 overs to seal their victory.

Purvis took apart Sileby’s attack, crashing nine four’s and two sixes in the process for his 65 before youngster Kieron Chance took his first second team wicket with Kindleysides snapping up the opener at square leg.

But that was the only highlight of Sileby’s bowling attack. Loughborough claim 24 points, enhancing their chances of gaining promotion to Division 1 and Sileby have six games to find a winning formula to make sure they stay in Division two for another year.

Sileby set to face Rothley after demolishing Woodhouse in Semi-Final

A ruthless Sileby Town Thursday XI demolished Woodhouse Eaves by 111 runs in the Loughborough Cricket Association Premier League Semi-Final play off at King George V Playing fields.

Luke Gale, Dave Torr and Liam Kinch all smashed half-centuries as the visitors posted a colossal 185-5 from just 14 overs.

After torrential downpour in recent weeks, both sides agreed to play the semi-final at Woodhouse after Sileby Town’s Mill Lane ground had been under water for some time, despite recent scorching temperatures.

With captain Micky Ruddle winning the toss and electing the bat first, Gale had set about his intentions very early on, after crashing the first ball over the boundary for four from the bowling of Stewart.

Ben Cavey’s stay at the crease however, was short lived after he departed for the just four, falling to Cartwright with the score on 25-1 in just the second over.

Gale continued his destruction of the home side’s bowlers, and he was joined by Dave Torr, as their second wicket partnership had elevated the score to 118 in just six overs.

Prior to being bowled, Gale smashed three consecutive sixes behind the bowlers’ head before coming down the track looking for the fourth, and having his bails removed for a rapid 57 from just 29 balls.

Torr soon departed not so long after he reached his half century in just under 40 deliveries falling to A Stovell for 51.

A middle order collapse saw Gethin King and Joe Charity follow Torr back in the hutch with A Stovell bowling King for a second ball duck and Charity ran out by a direct hit for just 3.

Just three overs remained when Kinch and Mo Khan were at the crease and the final remaining overs had given Kinch the license to free hit the bowling attack, sharing a stand of 48 in just 2.3 overs.

Kinch’s 51* from just 21 deliveries had given the away side a highly competitive target for the home side to chase.

And it took just the seventh ball of the first over for seamer Matt Ellis to pick up the wicket of Simpson as he was caught behind for just a single.

Adam Hackett followed Ellis up with a wicket of his own dismissing Greaseley for five.

Woodhouse could never get going with the two seamers bowling very tight lines and A Stovell’s (4) stumps were removed by Hackett as he picked up his second wicket of the evening with the score on 17-3 in the fourth over.

Ellis also enjoyed two wickets on the night as he comprehensively bowled captain Nick Collins for three and at 21-4, it was always going to be a tough target for Woodhouse to get.

Hill and Stephens had slowly began to pick up the pieces as they made a partnership of 28 for the fifth wicket before Hackett ran out Stephens for 18.

Sam Gale’s slow left arm had invited Hill (12) to come down the track only for Joe Charity to pick up a rare stumping.

N Stovell (2) fell to Gale as he was bowled with the score on 53-7.

Ruddle picked up the final three wickets of Evans (20), Stewart (0) and Cartwright (0) all succumbing to the slow-medium pace.

Woodhouse Eaves’ unsuccessful chase has given Sileby the opportunity to face rivals Rothley Park CC in the play-off final, which is due to be played at Rothley this Thursday evening.

Sileby will go in to the final with great confidence after posting a score with such a challenge but Rothley will be another test for the league leaders, as they look to avenge their early season defeat at Mill Lane, last month.