CRICKET: Elsecar come out on top in classic thriller

Faced with a Whitley Hall total of 310 for 8, centuries from Luke Townsend and Ainsley Swallow took Elsecar past their hosts’ total with ten balls and five wickets to spare.

Elsecar invited their hosts to bat first with some apprehension after last year's 366 run bashing from Whitley, especially with an excellent pitch and good batting conditions.

But this was the game they had to win if Whitley were to be prevented from walking away with the championship at an early stage.

Elsecar achieved an early success with the score at 18 and Chris Siddall was run out by Athukorala on 40 with the score at 63 for two.

Neil Longhurst looked in commanding form before a smart catch by stumper Andrew Joburns saw him leave with 34.

The highest and most aggressive partnership of Whitley's Billy Whizz Jaco Castle and Andrew Bethel (55) produced 116 runs, South African Castle showing why he leads the Premier batting by smashing six fours and six sixes in falling just short of a century on 97.

Elsecar at last made some real impact and a decline set in, from 273 for 4 to 288 for 8. A final flurry raised the score to 310 for 8. Rob Jones took four for 62 for Elsecar.

Faced with such a mammoth task, Elsecar lost their first two batsmen with 17 runs between them, but Elsecar are made of sterner stuff and the third wicket partnership between opener Ainsley Swallow and the equally-talented Luke Townsend set about the task with determination.

With the Whitley bowlers having difficulties on a near-perfect pitch with a glass textured outfield, Swallow led the assault by racing to 115 in just 97 balls with his boundary count 13 fours and five sixes.

Townsend was more pedantic at first but he supported Swallow well and when his partner left he took centre stage with a vengeance.

Townsend peppered the boundary with his intent, and although Whitley had some success, the game reached its conclusion to the mounting applause of the visiting contingent with Elsecar at 311 for 5 and ten balls remaining.

Townsend was 114 not out in an equal number of balls and had included ten fours and four sixes for good measure.

The result brings Elsecar within five points of Whitley and equally importantly brings third-placed Treeton—who will welcome Whitley to Washfield Lane in three weeks time—into the equation. Other scores:

Premier League

Bradfield 116 (U Asif 5-49), Treeton 167 (S Cunningham 36, C.Cobb 33; H Swart 4-25).

Wickersley Old Village 228 for 8 (R Harrison 58, K Lee-Green 53; S Raza 4-38), Houghton Main 245 (I Simon 169; S Younis 5-37)

Aston Hall 141 for 4 (S Sharma 45, S Hibbett 42), Wath 137 for 8 (L Weekes 37, A Hirst 53; R Ward 4-27).

Whiston Parish Church 163 (A Tomlinson 34,A Winstanley 31 O Hannon-Dalby 5-33), Barnsley B 164 for 8 (S Walters 41, J Green 36; S Taylor  4-48).

Hallam 138 (H Emery 56; A Shore 5-39), Rockingham 139 for 6 (B Dalton 50*, J Doran 34).

Division 1

Coal Aston 103 for 2 (D Furniss 42*, L Johnson 52*),  Tickhill 102 (D Clack 31; J Furniss 4-41, N Horsfield 4-39).

Elsecar B 154 (A Meadows 82; M Ilyas 4-45), Shiregreen 239 for 9 (I Mohammed 67, M Nawaz 71*; L Musselwhite 4-61).

Kexborough 117 (M Jepps 46; J Needham 4-48), Rossington 121 for 5 (S Groves 45*; M Jepps 4-61).

Rotherham Town B 235 for 4 (D Mace 60, J Allan, 103*), Wickersley B 233 for 7 (N Longden 40, K Cowley 63, M Sissons 32).

Treeton B 200 (M Lambert 81, M Gee 52; A Ashfaque 5-74), Norton Oakes 204 for 2 (D Walton 60, A Hughes 91*).                                         

Wath B 231 for 8 (J Thompson 107, A Bell 58),  Collegiate B 184 for 9 (C Wall 64, J Varley 49; S Hopkins 6-30).

Division 2

Doncaster Town B 61 for 2, Maltby 60

Conisbrough 168 for 8 (D Steele 37, M Barnes 38),  Thorncliffe 167 (R Berry 32, H DeSilva 35; S Lowe 5-21).

Barnsley C 122 for 9 (L Shutt 4-23), Sheffield United B 126 for 1 (D Harley 42*, A Humphreys 65).

Warmsworth 189 for 7 (A Haywood 94*), Bradfield B 121 (P Carney 48; R Marshall 4-28).

Norton Woodseats 189 for 6 (N Johnson 39, T Eyre 50, S Hussain 41*), Whitley Hall B 188 for 7 (J Martin 68, K Brown 44).

Oughtibridge 193 for 4 (J Ahmed 108, A Akhtar 33),  Hallam B 192 for 9 (J Marven 52, Z Hassan 45; M Collinge 5-48).

Division 3

Dearne 261 for 6 (K Humphrys 125, J Scaife 41), Mexborough 106 (Z Khalil 38; A Whaley 4-25).

Phoenix 187 (C Longley 76; D Ratcliffe 4-50), Frecheville 189 for 3 (D Froggatt 29, D Ratcliffe 71*, T Saxelby 34*).

Worsbrough Bridge 94 (A Sondhi 34; I Davies 5-5),  Aston Hall B 95 for 3 (C Holland 37).                      

Thorncliffe B 142 (A Akhtar 31, S Dransfield 39; S Wilson 6-23), Whiston PC B 143 for 6 (A Galloway 36; D Pearson 4-33).          

Norton Oakes B 92 (J Pugh 4-24), Coal Aston B 93 for 1 (D Hemingway 80*).                                                           

Rockingham B 214 for 8 (L Stevenson 59, L Matthews 30, K Linney 31), Thorpe Hesley 237 for 8 (M Banks 47, N Bashir 76, Z Rashid 32*).

Division 4

Collegiate C 137 for 7 (E Croft 58), Warmsworth B 136 (R Kundra 55; Z Ghazanfar 6-35).

Rossington B 180 (R Morrall 62; S Rhodes 4-73, A Greaves 4-35), Kexborough B 77 (S Wood 5-40).

Tickhill B 136 for 3 (A Skinner 43*, R Coyle 40*), Oughtibridge B 132 (A Skinner 5-27).                                                  

Maltby B 136 for 7 (P Jevons 50*), Worsbrough B 133 (D Kumar 58; P Brewster 4-32).

Doncaster Town C 152 (S Exley 60; R Hart 7-24),  Dearne B 80 (L Ellwood 6-36).

Frecheville B 128 (D Clayton 44,L Hague 39;K Smallman 4-30,J Mir 4-23), Rotherham Town C 131 for 7 (A Vehere 33, T Staveley 57).