ONLY three league games took place last Saturday, with the match scheduled between Cowpen Bewley and Boosbeck unable to overcome a waterlogged pitch.

Two of the games played featured club derbies with Loftus first and second team meeting, and Nunthorpe’s two teams also pitted against each other.

Over at Loftus the B team batted first and made a respectable 127 for six thanks mainly to a fine, unbeaten 64 from Chris Barritt.

Pick of the A team bowlers was Chris Morrison who took three for 57. In reply the A team always had the run chase in hand and an unbroken fourth wicket partnership between Rob Whitwell (21 not out) and Neil Broughton (54 not out) saw them run out convincing winners by seven wickets.

At Nunthorpe it was again the B team that took first knock, and their innings never really gained any momentum against the accurate bowling of Shaun Siddaway (4-22) as they stuttered to 74 for eight. That score would have been even lower but for a valiant 22 not out from number nine Paul Fox. The A team then made light work of the meagre target as they romped home by eight wickets with Arif Ramzan (33 not out) leading the victory charge.

In Saturday’s only other game Dormanstown entertained Paragonians. The home side took first knock and were indebted to opener Steve Johnson as they totalled 104 for nine. Johnson batted through the entire 40 overs, grinding out an unbeaten 31 with extras being second top scorer with 22. Iqbal was the pick of the Para’s bowling taking 6-49. But the total actually proved more than adequate as Jack Watson (5- 12) and Antony Ashby (5-19) skittled the opposition for 36 inside 12 overs.

Nunthorpe took on Smiths Dock in the Cleveland Cup semi-final on Sunday. Arif Ramzan continued his good form, striking 54, and supported by Usman Shahid (29) and Ian Mee (27) he was able to take Nunthorpe to a respectable 146 for nine. Dale Peacock took 6-44 in an extended spell of 19 overs for Smiths.

The Smiths reply got off to a disastrous start as they lost three wickets for just ten runs, and despite a fighting 22 from Josh Evans the writing was on the wall as the Nunthorpe bowlers revelled in the conditions. Shaun Siddaway added a couple more wickets to his Saturday haul, but it was Paul Hardy who took star billing with five for 25 as Nunthorpe progressed to the final by an 88-run margin.