Result - Lost by 1 run

Top Performers

Old Sharlston 142-7, John Hall 2-20, Dave Kershaw 2-26

Stainborough 141 a.o., Richard Umbers 42, Chris Hall 20

Match Report

Stainborough knew that only a win would guarantee safety, but with Featherstone away at Darton and Crofton away to Champions Streethouse, 5 bonus points would probably be enough.

Having won the toss, Old Sharlston were asked to bat on a very wet wicket. After a steady start, the introduction of Dave Kershaw reduced the home side to 40-4. However, Old Sharlston recovered and although were not scoring freely, wickets were hard to come by. Stainborough managed to restrict the home side to 142 but unfortunately only managed to take 7 wickets and therefore only pick up the one bonus point.

In reply, Stainborough lost openers Jonathan Pepper (9) and Chris Hall (20) inside the first 8 overs. Runs were hard to come by, and the ball was rarely hit off the square, except for a number of excellent cover drives from Richard Umbers.. Infact when Ged McInerny (5) and then Richard Umbers (42) were out in 32nd and 33rd overs the run rate was up to over 6 runs per over. More worringly the light was deteriorating badly. John Hall (10) and Dave Kershaw (19) kept Stainborough in the game, but both time and light was running out. The light affected both teams, with the fielding side unable to see the ball if the batsman was fortunate to hit it.

With wickets falling at regular intervals, it came down to Stainborough needing 1 run to tie and 2 to win off the final over. After two dot balls, the final Stainborough batsmen was very unlucky to be given out LBW, when an inside edge went unseen by the umpire in near darkness. Steve Hargreaves was left unbeaten on 10.

Having only picked up 3 points from the game, results elsewhere would determine Stainborough's destiny.

However, when news filtered through from Streethouse it was not good and when the details became apparent mass disappointment is an understatement. In bizarre circumstances, Crofton needing 86 runs off the final over of the match, came off for bad light. This gave them an extra 2 points and condemned Stainborough to the final relegation spot. To make things worse, in the penultimate over they had hit 4 boundaries and significantly picked up an additional bonus point before bringing the game to an abrupt end. Needless to say, this may not be the end of the matter.

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