Lane takes six wickets as Lea & Roses see off Farnsfield threat

Farnsfield won the all-important toss and elected to for the home side to bat. West and Needham strode out to the middle both looking for runs they had found hard to come by in recent weeks.

West settled quickly scoring a couple of early boundaries but unfortunately Needham could not do the same edging one to first slip.

This brought Mardle to the crease and the pair started to build a partnership. It was slow going at times with West providing the power of shots to beat the infield and keep the scoreboard ticking along.

With the score on 67, Mardle was trapped in front of the spin bowling of Bryant. Bryant also took the next two wickets of Snee and Keightley who added six and nine respectfully to bring the Cooper to the crease with the score at 94.

West was next to fall after passing his 50 and looking rarely troubled. The return of opener Jones ended the skipper’s innings on 75 being caught behind. This set up the innings for the lower order to take the attack to Farnsfield in the last ten overs.

First Dewick, who scored a quick ten, followed by Smith who hit 23 not out helped Cooper push the score close to 180 before Cooper fell for 35. This brought Tittley the the crease to join Smith who took the Lea & Roses score to 182/7 from their 46 overs.

With dark clouds in the sky the Lea & Roses attack knew early wickets would prove vital - and that is exactly what happened when Dewick trapped opener Chaplin LBW first ball of the innings.

It was a sign of things to come as Dewick proved to be too much for the Farnsfield batsmen throughout his spell, picking up another wicket and finishing with figures of two wickets for seven runs of his nine overs.

At the other end Smith was unable to find a consistent line and length early doors but was able to surprise Farnsfield number four with a straight ball that clattered into his off stump.

After the opening spells, the Farnsfield middle order dug in and looked to be playing for the rain which looked likely to fall at any moment. This never came and they were faced with having to salvage a result with another 25 overs to go.

The major turning point of the game came as spinner Lane came into the attack a looked to take the attack to the batsmen. After a first over that saw him being hit for two boundaries he replied with a caught and bowled to dismissed the dangerous Edwards leaving the away side on 62-4.

The wickets continued to fall from here on in as Lane decided to rip the Farnsfield innings apart, taking another four wickets, bagging a five-wicket haul.

With the final two wickets to take and a couple of Farnsfield young guns at the crease it was a matter of time before Lane was to take his sixth wicket. This came when he bowled the resilient West who hung around for a solid 15.

The final wicket of the innings was taken by the returning Smith who used his pace to force the young number ten back to miss a straight one, leaving the away side all out for 90.

Lane was the outstanding bowler of the day finishing with figures of six wickets for 20 runs of his 12 overs.

Another solid 20 points for the Lea & Roses side keeps them top of the table nearing the halfway stage of the season.

Meanwhile, Lea & Roses II travelled away to Farnsfield III outfit, however, the rain which dodged the first team poured over in Farnsfield.

A thunder storm and resulting flash flood caused the match to be abandoned after only 5.5 overs of play leaving Lea & Roses with a frustrating 6 points for yet another week.

And Lea & Roses III were on the right side of Nottinghamshire this week, playing Worksop III at Lea Park. Worksop chose to bat first but were restricted to 91 all out with an excellent fielding display from Lea & Roses.

Jim Roberts, Adam Orton and Zac Metcalfe all picked up two wickets a piece with the ball. With the bat Lea & Roses were equally as impressive, they knocked off the total inside 23 overs, only losing two wickets along the way, with Zac Metcalfe picking up 52 not out. A good 20 points which will boost them up the table.