Town close in om league leaders
Leighton Town CC round-up
CHERWELL LEAGUE DIVISION TWO
Leighton Buzzard 160-5 Tiddington 159
LEIGHTON followed up last weekend's key win at Twyford with another five-wicket success, this time over Tiddington as they continue to pile the pressure on league leaders Oxford & Bletchingdon.
Town asked the visitors to bat first at Bell Close and soon had an early victim as Jack Kempster bowled opening batsman Edmondson for six. Goodman managed a useful 41, but in losing three quick wickets Tiddington had reached 80-4 off 20 overs.
Talbot (20) and Pykett (30) put together a stand worth 47 for the fifth wicket, but Town spinners Tom Light and Lee Selfe then began to make their presence felt as the away side crashed from 131-4 to 159 all out in no time.
Light bowled an excellent spell of eight overs taking 3-27 whilst Selfe grabbed 3-50 off 14 overs. Good fielding and a direct hit by Sam Janes to remove Willis meant that Town's target was a reasonable one to achieve - and they didn't disappoint.
However things started disastrously with openers Ben Friday and Chris Thompson back in the pavilion with only seven runs on the board. And Leighton lost a further wicket to be 23-3 and suddenly in trouble.
Anchorman Phil Whatmore and Jack Kempster put on 42 for the fourth wicket to steady the ship and Sam Janes joined Whatmore in a stand that brought 93 runs taking Town to within two runs of their victory target. Janes fell three short of his half century having struck two sixes and six boundary fours.
Instead it was left to Light to fire off the two runs needed for victory as Whatmore finished on 61 not out to reach a fantastic 4000 Cherwell League runs.
CHERWELL LEAGUE
DIVISION FOUR
Stokenchurch 149-2
Leighton Buzzard 2nds 148
LEADERS Stokenchurch were in ruthless mood as they coasted to an eight wicket victory over a Leighton side rooted to a place off the foot of the table.
Town lost the toss and were put in to bat. They made a bright start with Paul Darton (17) and Tim O'Leary (43) taking 22 off the first five overs, but progress thereafter was painfully slow. Only Richard Jenner (18) and Gareth Benger (42) reached double figures as the away batsmen struggled to cope with some accurate bowling. Town's last three wickets fell with the score on 148 as the home bowlers shared the wickets.
Leighton took an early wicket in reply when Will Smith snapped up a low catch at midwicket to remove Brown off the bowling of Gareth Benger for nine runs. But opener Latif scored an aggressive 58 before Benger took an excellent catch from the bowling of Fraser McJanet - but that was as good as it got for Town as Stokenchurch strolled to victory. Leighton get four points for their afternoon's work.
CHERWELL LEAGUE
DIVISION EIGHT
Banbury 4ths 256-4 dec
Leighton Buzzard 3rds 65
BASEMENT boys Leighton won the toss and put Banbury in to bat first - but were at the mercy of their high riding hosts.
There was an early success for Jack Bishop when he bowled Lambden for two, but fellow opener Thomas was in excellent form with a knock worth 144 runs before he was run out.
Phillips (23) and Lambden (54) helped to pile on the runs for the home side who declared at 256-4. Town's other wicket takers were Sam Roberts and Harry Ryan.
Leighton's young players then struggled with the bowling attack and crashed to a seventh defeat of the season. Bishop top scored on 21 and Ryan Tift made 10, but nobody else managed double figures as Town were all out for just 65 runs.
BEDS COUNTY LEAGUE
PREMIER DIVISION
Flitwick 149-2
Leighton Buzzard 148
TOWN'S run of indifferent form continued on Sunday as current division leaders Flitwick eased to a comfortable eight wicket win.
Town made one of their better starts with Tom Light (21) and James Bishop (28) putting on 60 for the first wicket, both dealing with the home side's opening bowling attack with ease.
But Twist then removed both of them, although at 93-2 with Phil Whatmore and Dan Scott at the wicket a score of around 200 seemed on the cards.
Whatmore (12) and Scott (29) were both dismissed by Sri Lankan Silva before Kempster was caught off Dunlop for 12. And the bottom half of the batting could manage just 16 runs between them as they were bowled out for 148 runs.
Kempster took a wicket in his first over but a century partnership between Russell (76no) and Davies (30) set the home side well on the way to victory. Ferguson (27no) hit the winning boundary at the start of the 36th over for a comfortable home victory.
BEDS COUNTY LEAGUE
DIVISION FOUR
Leighton Buzzard 2nds 298-7
Pilgrims Oakley 145
THE 2nds kept up their push for promotion from Division Four thanks to a 153-run victory over visitors Pilgrims Oakley.
Town batted first and lost their top order quickly. However, Fraser McJanet (56), Ryan Overill (45) and Rameez Dar (30) repaired the early damage.
Harry Ryan then smashed 79 not out off 59 deliveries as the eighth wicket partnership with Nick Boyce (27 not out) added 90 runs in the last 10 overs. A final total of 298 was Leighton's highest of the season.
Pilgrims responded with an opening stand of 84 dominated by Sheikh with 52, but Matt Cook then took charge for Town with an excellent bowling spell of seven overs taking 5-34 - his best effort of the season so far.
The visitors were never in the hunt after that and were dismissed after 27 overs for 145 runs, Andy Smith and Matt Yates sharing the other wickets to fall.
EATON BRAY ARE NEW
SIXES CHAMPIONS
THE gloomy evening weather did not deter local cricketers from enjoying the 2010 six-a side event at Bell Close last week. With just six players per side and five overs per innings, the pace was quite frantic.
The new champions are Eaton Bray who only managed to sneak through the qualifying round by losing fewer wickets than other team competing on that evening.
There were two new clubs taking part on Monday as Flitwick and Cublington were joined by a guest team known as Smith's Allsorts.
Flitwick had the best of the night's proceedings mainly thanks to their Sri Lankan Silva. In the first game Cublington scored 54-4 and Flitwick responded with 55-1.
Game two saw Cublington amass the highest score of the week as they smashed Smith's Allsorts bowling for 96 and then conceded 64 runs in return. The final game saw Allsorts score 61 but Flitwick eased to the semis with 64-1.
Game four on Tuesday night saw Stewkley pass Eaton Bray's score of 57 to finish on 60. And in game five Eaton Bray bettered Simmons' score of 46 for the loss of just one wicket.
Game six provided the drama for the evening. Stewkley batted first and scored 51 runs losing three wickets. Simmons responded well and needed 12 runs off the last over, and managed six with one ball to go. The bowler then bowled a wide from which a run was taken and from the last delivery a boundary four was struck to leave Simmons as winners.
So all three teams had two points apiece, and on countback on the number of wickets lost Stewkley and Simmons had both lost three whilst Eaton Bray had only lost two, meaning Bray progressed.
On Wednesday Ampthill and Great Brickhill played a best of three series. Ampthill won game 10 convincingly by scoring 68 with an over to spare. But Brickhill turned the tables in the next game scoring the winning run off the last ball of the innings for a score of 61.
The deciding game saw another cliffhanger with Brickhill scoring 51 runs. Ampthill were in trouble needing 17 from the final over. The first four balls were each despatched to the boundary before the fifth ball saw a wicket fall. But the final ball of the evening was hit for a four to see Ampthill through to the semis.
Thursday evening saw Leighton and Dunstable competing in a best of three series with Dunstable comfortable victors.
On Friday in the first semi final Eaton Bray bowled exceptionally well to restrict Flitwick to 38-4 from their five overs and they then knocked off the runs required without losing a wicket.
The second semi final pitched Dunstable against Ampthill. The former side batted first and scored 40-4 with Ampthill responding on 41-1 with an over to spare.
Bray batted first in the final and scored 68-2. Ampthill responded with 20 runs off the first over which included three huge sixes into the football ground.
But Ampthill then struggled as the runs dried up. Needing 25 off the last over for victory they could only manage 19 to leave Bray the victors by five runs.
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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
