Ufford Park CC hit the top despite Akhter excellence

​That was hard luck on Werrington’s Shazad Akhter who cracked 77 of his side’s 139.

But all-round consistency proved the key for Ufford who lost just one wicket before clinching victory with six balls to spare.

Usman Sadiq, Andy Larkin, Muhammad Raheel and Waheed Javed all reached the retirement score of 25 before Dan Peroo, who had earlier taken two wickets, smacked a six to win the game.

Akhter was able to bat on after reaching 25 under the ‘last man stands’ rule.

Defending champions AK 11 are up to third after beating Pak Azad by 12 runs, while Wansford were denied their first win of the season as Hampton pipped them by one wicket from the final ball of the match at Bushfield Sports Centre.

Wansford had hurtled to 78-0 in five overs before closing on 131-4. Andy Briault top scored with 48. Hampton slumped to 85-5, but opener Jawad Ali was allowed to keep batting and he finished unbeaten on 81.

Scores

Hampton 133-5 (J. Ali 81no) beat Wansford 131-4 (A. Briault 48, K. Sainsbury 26, M. Zubair 23no) by 1 wicket.

Ufford Park 142-1 (A. Larkin 33no, W. Javed 26, U. Sadiq 25, M. Raheel 25) beat Werrington by 139 (A. Akhter 77no, D. Peroo 2-27) by 5 wkts

Bretton 131-4 (A. Bennett 37no, N. Buckingham 36, A, Majeed 2-24) beat Sheikh 11 103 (A. Latif 46, U. Hanif 27, A. Bennett 2-11, E. Bennett 2-22) by 28 runs.

AK11 144-1 (A. Ahmed 26, S. Jafeer 25, Zaheer Abbas 25, H. Shamim 21) beat Pak Azad 132-5 (W. Haider 53, D. Iqbal 42no) by 12 runs.

Standings (all played 5 matches): 1 Ufford Park 12pts, 2 Werrington 12pts, 3 AK 11 9pts, 4 Bretton 9pts, 5 Hampton 9pts, 6 Pak Azad 6pts, 7 Sheikh 11 0pts, 8 Wansford 0 pts.

In the event of a tie head-to-head records are decisive and after that the team taking the most wickets will be higher in the table.

Next fixtures Sunday, January 21: Werrington v Hampton, Wansford v Ufford Park, Sheikh 11 v Pak Azad, Bretton v AK 11.