Table toppers bowl Town over
Leighton Buzzard Cricket Club round-up
Cherwell League Division Two
Leighton Buzzard 127
Nondescripts 128-5
LEIGHTON tasted defeat for the first time this season when they lost out to league leaders Oxford & Bletchingdon Nondescripts by five wickets.
Put into bat at Bell Close, Town lost opener Ben Friday in the fourth over as a long day looked on the cards, although a stand of 31 between Tom Light and Phil Whatmore got them back on track.
But hopes of setting a defendable lead were dented when the latter fired one up to wicketkeeper Guthrie to gather.
Wickets then started to fall regularly as Dan Scott (12), James Bishop (18) and Chris Thompson (3) departed with small contributions. It was left to Sam Janes, who hit a sprightly 27 off 39 balls, to get Leighton going again.
His fine innings included a couple of big 6s and two boundary 4s, although his top scoring on 27 told its own story. Lee Selfe chipped in with 13 not out to leave Leighton all out for 127 in 52 overs. Sanjay Vinjimoor (5-41) and Mark Strong (4-50) were the successful wicket takers.
Al Priestley claimed a wicket with the fifth ball of the first over as the visitors began the chase. And further wickets fell to leave Nondies struggling on 27-4 after just 13 overs, Selfe and Priestley claiming two apiece.
But Nondies captain Mark Strong then joined Andrew Brown at the crease and they steadily gained momentum and put on a stand worth 99 runs.
Strong eventually fired one to Selfe at deep mid-off who duly held on.
However, only two further runs were required for victory and Nondies finished the job off in the 39th over to secure a comfortable five-wicket success, giving the leaders 25 points and Leighton six.
Kimble 183 Leighton Buzzard II 186-6
ANDY Smith won the toss for Leighton and decided to field first and opening bowler Adam Culley took a wicket in his first over to set Town on their way.
He continued with a spell of excellent bowling which only yielded 16 runs from 10 overs with batsmen playing and missing on a number of occasions. The bowling at the other end however proved expensive and the home team's second wicket pair had a partnership worth 106 on the board by the drinks break.
Things were looking bleak for Town but the rain break in proceedings worked in Town's favour as two balls after the restart Stackhouse lofted one to Boyce who took a comfortable catch at cover for Kirk Brazier's first wicket of the afternoon.
In his next over Brazier then removed Mooney for a well struck 66 and Fraser McJannet chipped in with two wickets and 111-1 soon became 138-6. Cooke scored 34 not out but Town romped through the tail to dismiss Kimble for 183. Brazier returned his best figures of the season with an outstanding 5-46 with Smith also taking two wickets.
Leighton made a cautious start in reply and soon lost openers Hipwell (9) and Allbury (3). Some wayward bowling by the home team gifted many extras to Town and when Benger was out for a single the score stood at 62-3 - and 34 of those were extras.
Brazier and Smith came together at an important time to steady the innings with the former eventually out for 37 runs, including five boundary 4s.
Smith (26) and Dave Roberts (20) had a partnership worth 44 runs for the 5th wicket but at 136-6 there was still much to be done. Adam Culley and Will Smith were not troubled by the home attack though and the 7th wicket pair calmly put together an unbroken stand of 50 to see Leighton home to their first victory of the season. Culley ended on 25 not out and Smith on 15 not out. The win gives Town 25 points.
Leighton Buzzard III 107 Dinton III 110-6
ONCE again Leighton fielded a young team against Division Eight leaders Dinton and produced a very respectable performance in a low scoring match at Pages Park.
The visitors won the toss and asked Town to bat first. Nick Scott (18), Jack Bishop (25) and Brad Gates (26) were the main contributors as the home side were dismissed for 107 runs. Devlin was the main wicket taker for Dinton with 5-33.
Town's bowlers then had a good go at the opposition with five different bowlers sharing the six wickets to fall. Sam Roberts took 2-14 but a generous helping of extras saw Dinton to victory with a few overs to spare.
Leighton Buzzard 236 Biggleswade 184
BIGGLESWADE won the toss and opted to field first - no surprise for a team that has a number of 'big hitters'.
Leighton made a poor start with Tom Light out for 10 and James Bishop for a duck. Phil Whatmore and Dan Scott started a rescue operation and put on 54 runs for the 3rd wicket before Scott was bowled for 15. Whatmore moved comfortably on to 51 with six 4s and two big 6s before he fell lbw to Jimmy Hart.
Biggleswade then took two more quick wickets and at 118-6 with 18 overs still remaining the balance of the game had swung firmly in favour of the visitors. However Jack Kempster and Sam Janes worked hard and with patience started to build up some momentum as well as use up some of the overs.
They began to dominate and with some excellent running off sharp singles and 2s, the score began to mount. With the partnership worth 80 runs Janes was bowled for 21 which included four 4s scored in just 37 minutes.
By now Kempster was in full flow with some punishing shots all round the ground. He looked well set for a century but lost his wicket for 83 going for a big hit. An excellent innings provided 83 runs to Leighton's total and this included nine 4s and two 6s at a run a ball.
Adam Culley chipped in with 17 and the home team ended on 236, a respectable effort after the mid-innings crisis.
With Whatmore donning the keeper's gloves, Town were looking for an early wicket and were successful. Macfarlane smacked a huge six off Dan Scott over the football floodlights in only the third over of the innings and then tried to repeat the same shot next ball.
He got underneath it and whilst it went very high it only travelled as far as James Bishop at deep mid-on who held onto a wonderful tumbling catch.
The partnership for the second wicket had reached 79 when Adam Culley clean bowled Ahmad for 42 which included six 4s. Antony Francis came in and proved an inspired bowling change as he soon got into his groove and wickets began to fall.
Hart (46), Wright, (14) Smith (10) and Twigg (20) were all victims of the off spinner. Kempster chipped in too but Francis took two more wickets as the last five fell for just 20 runs in five overs, giving Town a comfortable 52-run win and maximum 30 points.
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Weather for Leighton Buzzard
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: East
