Hampton CC win a thriller to move within touching distance of Division Four title, while Peterborough Town need to win 3 out of 3 to celebrate more Rutland League success
Hampton CC are within touching distance of the Rutland Division Four East title after a thrilling win over their nearest rivals.
The long-time leaders pipped Whittlesey by 1 wicket to move within 1 point of securing top spot. The city still have two games to go.
Zohaib Muhammad (3-17) and Ramandeep Singh (3-25) were the Hampton bowling stars as Whittlesey were restricted to 165. Joseph Purse top scored for Whittlesey with 65.
Purse (4-29) also bowled well as did teammate Josh Fox (3-34) as Hampton lost early wickets, but 55 from Waqar Ul Haq and an unbeaten 33 from Singh saw their side home in a nail-biting finale.
Peterborough Town 2nds also won a tight game at this level, by 14 runs at United Sports 2nds when 62 from Dave Simpson proved crucial.
Town’s senior side still have their sights set on a 6th Division One title in the last 7 completed seasons and they almost received an unlikely boost from lowly Ufford Park.
Leaders Burghley Park needed to win their final game to keep the pressure on Town and they did, by just 1 wicket at the village ground, despite despatching Ufford for a modest 132. Burghley’s last 2 wickets had to add 16 to get them home.
Town secured a more routine 5-wicket win at Werrington and still have 3 games left to overcome a 48-point deficit. Three wins would do it and they have the bottom two still to face as well as a dangerous City CC side. Karanpal Singh and Bashrat Hussain took 3 wickets at Werrington before skipper Kyle Medcalf (59) and Balaji Ganesan (51) batted well.
In Division Two Orton Park’s bid to get out of the bottom two received a boost with a 29-run home win over East Carlton. Jarius Charles struck 75 of Orton’s 262-9.
Division Three title favourites must wait to seal top spot after a 3-wicket reverse at Ketton Sports, but there was a big win for Adidda in this section, by 117 runs over Stamford Town. Antony Irwin claimed 4-18 for the winners.
Oundle Town were also big winners in Division Four West, by 168 runs over Sawtry. Alfie Sullivan (86), Arnie Gough (56) and Joe Hancock (52no) scored well in Oundle’s 287-8. Hancock faced just 26 balls.
Cricket results/standings/fixtures page 75.