Peterborough Town fail to land a big enough blow during a tough weekend, plus Oundle Town held in top-of-the-table clash

​Rain wrecked their chances of an expected Northants Premier Division win over Rushden & Higham at Bretton Gate on Saturday.

And on Sunday Town suffered at the hands of a powerhouse Wanstead and Snaresbrook battling line-up in the Area Final of the ECB Club KO.

There was no disgrace in defeat against Essex Premier Division opposition who have reached the quarter-finals of a National competition in each of the last two seasons.

But Town will be disappointed because they should have pushed their opponents closer after posting a respectable 40-over total of 227-9 on their own patch.

The city side bowled with commendable accuracy in the first 10 overs, but dropping Essex first-class player Robin Das early in his innings of 76 (63 balls 4 sixes, 5 fours) proved costly as did the failure to execute the simple run out of Muhammad Hassan Hameed before he’d truly found his stride on his way to an unbeaten century.

It might not have mattered given the strength of the Wanstead line-up. When Das finally fell to a splendid catch from Kyle Medcalf he was replaced by another Essex man in Keshan Valani who batted with supreme ease and confidence to help steer his side to an eight-wicket win with almost four overs to spare.

Earlier Town opener Chris Milner batted well for 47 before skipper Nick Green played some fine shots in his 50, but it took some late hitting from Medcalf and Alex Green to get their side past 200. The latter also bowled accurately and quickly, conceding just one run from his first four overs.

This stage of the competition appears to be the current ceiling for Town who have lost the last three Area Finals, two of them to Wanstead.

Josh Smith finished unbeaten on 114 as Town piled up 241-7 in 39 overs against Rushden, but they were guilty of batting on for too long given the weakness of the opposition and the constant threat of rain.

The visitors were left 43 overs to bat, but that was quickly reduced to 36 overs by another short, sharp shower and, despite the Herculean efforts of Nick Green (6-32) who pushed his creaking body to the limit, Rushden negotiated what could have been a tricky period rather comfortably closing on 118-7.

Third-placed Town therefore made just three points up on top two Finedon and Oundle Town who fought out a rain-affected draw at Milton Road.

That was good news for Finedon who looked to be heading for defeat thanks to some big-hitting by Patrick Harrington.

Harrington was 53 not out (38 balls, 3 sixes) as Oundle reached 109-5 chasing 155 with 15 overs to go when the match was abandoned.

Conor Craig (3-28) and Will Park (3-30) bowled best for Oundle.

Finedon have maintained a 19-point lead over Oundle at the top with Town a further eight points adrift.

The league reaches its halfway point next Saturday as Town visit bottom club Wollaston and Oundle face a tricky trip to Geddington.

Top-flight teams then face four weeks of T20 competition.