Owzat Cricket Shop Division 2N

Belper Amateurs 1st XI 158 all out drew with South Wingfield 124-8 (49 overs)

SHORT sleeves were the order of the day, which is a rare occurrence at the Packhorse Ground in April as Belper Amateurs began their league campaign with a winning draw against South Wingfield.

Having been put into bat they lost two early wickets, one of which was new Australian recruit Chris Richards.

However, Roy Peat (35) and Chris Meyer (56) added 80 for the third wicket and Tom Mart chipped in with a useful 18 not out towards the end of the innings to help the Amateurs reach 158.

After tea South Wingfield began their reply and as they reached 50 without loss after 13 overs the hosts were staring at a big defeat.

Eventually the Amateurs broke the opening partnership and then crucially, Jack Allen and Chris Richards were brought into the attack and this proved the turning point.

Allen bowled with great control, his 11 overs included seven maidens and figures of 2-9.

The pressure this built enabled Chris Richards to bowl five overs and take 3-7.

South Wingfield then decided to play for the draw and batted out the remaining overs.

Belper Amateurs 2nd XI 133 all out beat Morton Colliery 2nd XI 131 all out by 2 runs

The second team won an exciting encounter at Morton Colliery.

Amateurs set Morton 134 to win in 52 overs, thanks to Rich Deeming’s cultured 42.

Morton seemed set to win with their score at 131-8 but hit the self-destruct button with a crazy run out with only three needed and then lost their last wicket without any further score.

In the end it was 27 points for the seconds who now sit proudly at the top of 6N.

The Sunday team took on a young Allestree side.

The Amateurs batted first and Aussie Chris Richards took advantage of some friendly bowling crashing a quickfire 53. When he was out Steve Dymond (101 not out) and Ben Hawkins put together a partnership of 70 which steered them from 82-7 to a solid total of 207.

Unfortunately the rain arrived after only two overs of Allestree’s innings which forced a premature end to the game.

Fixtures

This week sees the firsts away at Ambergate on Saturday with the seconds at home to Denby.

The Under 13s are away at Quarndon on Sunday lunchtime and the friendly XI play Cutthorpe at home on Sunday afternoon.

Next Monday sees the first game for the under 17s against Shipley.