Yorkshire South Premier League Cricket: Aston Hall punished by batting of Stuart

The leaders chose to field first after the previous day’s heavy rain, but Aston Hall made a decent start at 58-1, thanks to 28 from Matthew Cartwright. Doncaster stuck to their task with the ball however, as the visitors struggled to up the run rate once they had got ‘in’. Several double figures scores were posted but no one could kick on to post a significant score as Duncan Heath (3-22) and Jack Shutt (2-31) combined for thirty tight overs between them. Bilal Anjam also picked up two wickets as Aston Hall were bowled out for 114 in the final over. Doncaster’s reply was aggressive from the start. James Stuart reached 50 from 43 balls and finished 72 not out as Doncaster reached their target for the loss of just one wicket and inside 20 overs for a significant win ensuring they remained top of the table and Aston Hall somewhat marooned at the bottom.

Barnsley remained in second place with a good win at Cleethorpes. Tight spin bowling from Oliver Jackson (3-48) and Ali Jahangir (2-38) restricted the home side to 142-8 from 50 overs. Openers Bill Kirby (30) and Callum Carter (28) led the way with the bat for Cleethorpes, but Steve Nuttall’s 2-14 ensured no late innings fireworks. Barnsley recovered from the early loss of Jon Trower as Boeta Beukes and Beck Frostick combined for a second wicket partnership of 114 to take Barnsley in sight of victory at 122-2, from which no further losses were suffered and Barnsley were victors by 8 wickets inside 40 overs.

Treeton leapt into third place thanks to a hard fought victory in a tight game against Collegiate. Reduced to 46 overs per side, Collegiate were asked to bat first and were in a strong position at 80-1, but this fell to 119-5 with the middle order removed thanks to Greg Norton (2-35). Opener Jamie Carrington was still there and with support from Henry Eldred (38*) took Collegiate up to a challenging score. Carrington posted his century in the 43rd over and finished 110* as Collegiate set the hosts 233-5 to beat. Treeton looked behind the game at 80-4 as Eldred took two early wickets, but skipper Sam Drury (72) steadied the ship and with support from Chris Cobb (52) turned the game around with a partnership of 97. Needing 34 from the last four overs, Norton and Vinnie Ogden struck out to tale Treeton to victory with one ball to spare reaching 234-7.

Wakefield Thornes moved to 4th place with a straightforward victory at Wickersley. The home side batted first and were soon in trouble thanks to Mahmood Rasool who finished with 4-39, having reduced Wickersley to 91-5. That Wickersley got to that score was thanks to a quick fire 51 from just 32 balls from Dave Rodgers. A contrasting innings of 60 from skipper Tom Knight gave Wickersley some stability before they were dismissed off the final ball for 199. Matthew Taylor backed up Rasool with 3-64 for Thornes. The reply made a decent start despite 2-36 from Luke Shutt, and when David Toft (74) and Satyajeet Bachhav (43) added 86 for the third wicket to take the score to 157-3, Thornes were in control. Two late wickets for Luke Roddison were in vain as Thornes reached 200-5 with almost ten overs to spare. Wickersley continue to look nervously at the two sides below them in the table.

That there are only two teams now below Wickersley is due to Hallam continuing their fine form in August with a win over Elsecar. Batting first Hallam made a decent start with Alex Hughes (38) and Andre Bradford (44) setting a good foundation. The middle order couldn’t quite capitalise as thy would have hoped as Elsecar fought back picking up wickets at regular intervals. Jack Unwin posted 32 but 3-51 from Muhammed Ilyas restricted Hallam to 189-8 from 50 overs. Bradford then followed up his runs with a superb bowling performance to halt Elsecar’s reply. Charlie Bourne (3-6) ripped through the higher order of the Elsecar line up to reduce them to 55-5, before Bradford removed the dangerous Tanzeel Ali and the lower order to finish with 4-45 and Elsecar all out for just 109, short by 80 runs to give Hallam their fourth win in five games – the other washed out.

Finally Tickhill posted a good win over Whitley Hall in a low scoring affair. Tickhill batted first and fell to 123 all out in the 42nd over thanks to a superb spell of 5-18 in 5.3 overs from Sam Woodcock. Jack Wood supported well with 3-36 as only Liam Johnson (30) and Mark Cummins (22) had any response for Tickhill. The reply was no easier for Whitley Hall as Cummins (2-25) and Alex Rowland (2-13) reduced the reply to 56-6. Binura Fernando then stepped in to remove the tail in short order to leave Whitley 85 all out in 35.1 overs and an unlikely 38 run victory for Tickhill.

The stand out fixture this coming weekend sees Doncaster travel to Wakefield Thornes, while Barnsley host Tickhill hoping for a favour from Thornes. Treeton travel to Aston Hall and Collegiate welcome Cleethorpes. At the bottom Hallam go to near neighbours Whitley Hall and Wickersley are at Elsecar.

In the national T20 competition Collegiate made it through to finals day at Derbyshire CC after defeating last year’s winner Hanging Heaton. They successfully chased 174-7 after Henry Eldred took 3-33, thanks to Jamie Carrington’s brutal 70 from just 31 balls to win in just the 18th over. Finals day is Sunday 22nd September in Derby.

STANDINGS (19 games): Doncaster 160 points; Barnsley 140; Treeton 136; Thornes 136; Collegiate 130; Tickhill 124; Elsecar 116; Whitley Hall 108; Hallam 98; Wickersley 96; Cleethorpes 92; Aston Hall 74.