Great wins for Peterborough Town ahead of a big weekend, but they have lost their grip on T20 competition

Town, who had lost two wickets in the first over of the game, bagged a third straight win over Finedon by just 2 runs after a nail-biting finale. The city side are now third, just six points off top spot after winning three of their first four matches.

Town have a tough game at pro-heavy Kislingbury this Saturday before hosting unbeaten East Anglian Premier League side Horsford in a group final of the ECB Club KO competition on Sunday (1pm start).

Jaskaran Singh was the the last-over bowling hero for Town against Finedon who needed 12 from six balls to reach their victory target of 264.

After conceding a single off the first ball, Singh had Mark Wolstenholme caught by David Clarke, but then things swung back in Finedon's favour as Jack Fuller hammered the first ball he faced for six.

That left Finedon needing six to win from the final, three balls, but Singh struck again as Fuller was caught by Zeeshan Manzoor leaving the visitors to close on 261-9. Singh ended with 4-60, while Nick Green returned figures of 3-61.

Josh Smith rescued Town’s innings from those early disasters with a composed 57 and there were more than useful contributions from Kyle Medcalf (43), Scott Howard 42 and Clarke (40no).

Pre-season title fancies Oundle have work to do to get involved at the top. They have won just one of their opening four matches and suffered a four-wicket loss at Geddington last weekend as the home side scrambled home with a ball to spare.

Skipper Mark Hodgson (93) and Bill Amas (79 no, 54 balls, 6 6s) dominated Oundle’s 242-7, but it wasn’t enough despite an economical spell of bowling from left-arm spinner Harrison Craig (3-29, 10 overs). Oundle, who are eighth in a 10-team division, host relegation favourites Loddington on Saturday (11am).

T20 ACTION

Peterborough Town’s domination of the Stamford Shield T20 competition has been ended by Barnack. The city side had won the three previous editions, but they lost their quarter-final by five wickets at Barnack on Monday.

Town failed to build on an opening stand of 109 between captain Kyle Medcalf (62) and teenager Oliver Goodliffe (43) and closed on 143-7. Barnack wasted no time in chasing down their target with former Town star Asim Butt (51, 32 balls), Usman Sadiq (42, 38 balls) and Javad Ghani (38, 15 balls) all making merry as victory was achieved with three-and-half overs to spare.

Butt had smacked 148 of Barnack’s 258-7 against Town in a Rutland Division One game on Sunday, but Bashrat Hussain (97), Siddharth Shanmugaraj (78) and Zeeshan Manzoor (56no) raced Town to an eight-wicket success.

Barnack now entertain Burghley Park in a Stamford Shield semi-final on Monday, June 29. Alex Ashwin’s 62 from 33 balls and 3-18 from James Laud helped Park beat Royal Strikers by 46 runs.

Oundle will entertain Newborough in the other semi-final. Oundle received a quarter-final walkover from Ufford Park, while Newborough were beating Pak Azad by three wickets.

Harsh Joshi (61, 48 balls) was the Pak Azad star in their total of 137-9 with Tom Shipman replying with 50 from 39 balls for Newborough. Charlie Johnson (4-31) and Joe MIlls (3-21) bowled well for the winners. Shahbaz Mohammed (4-31) and Joshi (2-5) bowled best for the city side.

Oundle, Newborough and Barnack are all chasing T20 doubles. The latter pair clash in a Stamford Charity Cup semi-final next Monday (June 22, 6pm) when Oundle host Pak Azad.