NORTHANTS LEAGUE: Captain Clarke leads the way in Town victory

David Clarke hit a ton for Peterborough Town.

Town skipper David Clarke enjoyed his best knock of the season as he struck a polished 129 not out for visitors Town and then Dan Harris smashed a whirlwind 141 for Saints.

The difference was, Clarke had support and Harris didn’t and that ultimately led to a 37-run win for Town.

Opener Clarke, who hit 19 fours, got a helping hand from Alex Mitchell (59 off 53 balls) and Kieran Jidd (77 not out off 99 balls) and was abale to declare after 48 overs on a healthy 289-2.

That looked to be more than enough for victory as Saints struggled to start with in reply and were 40-3.

But then Harris entered the fray. His lusty blows - 17 of which went for four and nine for suix - put Saints right back in the picture and with him at the crease a shock looked possible.

But Town, and in particular Joe Dawvorn, kept their cool.

Dawborn clean bowled Harris and then mopped up the tail to finish with figures of 6-53.

Lewis Bruce (1-62 off nine overs) was the bowler to suffer most from the Harris hurricane,

Third-placed Town collected 20 points for their efforts but so did league leaders Old Northamptonians at Rushden. So the gap between the two remains at 44 points with four matcheds to go.

Peterborough Town

A. Butt b Niyazi 1

D. Clarke not out 129

A. Mitchell b Wolstenholme 59

K Judd not out 77

Extras 23

TOTAL (2 wkts dec) 289

Bowling: F. Niyazi 8-1-68-1; J. Stockdale 14-3-51-0: S. Jhala 10-0-67-0; M. Wolstenholme 8 0 55 1; M. Odedra 7-0-40-0; H Adair 1-0-4-0.

Northampton Saints

H. Adair c Dawborn b Sayer 21

E. Gay c Milner b Dawborn 4

P. Bright c Akhtar b Dawborn 3

J. Mousley b Mohammed 18

D. Harris b Dawborn 141

S. Jhala lbw Bruce 1

M. Wolstenholme b Dawborn 31

R. Brown† retired out 1

J. Stockdale b Dawborn 2

F. Niyazi not out 5

M. Odedra b Dawborn 0

Extras 25

TOTAL 252

Bowling: D. Sayer 12-0-74-1; J. Dawborn 15.1-5-53-6; D. Mohammed 5-0-36-1; L. Bruce 9-1-62-1; R. Kendall 7-1-24-0.

Oundle picked up 17 precious points from a winning draw at home to Wollaston in their battle to avoid relegation.

Phil Adams made 52 and Bashrat Hussain 46 as Oundle totalled 218-8 off 50 overs.

Wollaston were hanging on at 174-9 at the close. Jack Bolsover took 3-30 and Primesh Patel 3-57.