Firsts hold nerve in final over finish

On a weekend that saw our sides claim a clean sweep of wins the 1s, and Matt Ellis and Ryan Dawson in particular, held their nerves in the 49th and 50th overs to help their side claim a tight win for the first time this season.

Sileby's innings of 171 all out was a creditable effort having come from 6 for 3 in the fifth over with Andries Gous and Liam Kinch initally stopping the rot before a sixth wicket stand of 77 between Ajay Khunti (51) and Micky Ruddle (37) got them to 140 for 5 before the all-too-familiar batting collapse saw them lose four wickets for seven runs.

However, the stars at the end of the Rothley innings had earlier played a pivotal role - this time with the bat - to register a critical last wicket stand of 24 to help set a defendable total.

Excellent early bursts from Harry Bates (3-28) and Aaron Smith (2-37) - including Smith's dismissal of Niall O'Brien for 17 - helped stop the Rothley reply before it really got started as they slipped to 32 for 4.

A stand of 34 between Hamzah Khan (23) and Sam Bates (16) helped stem the flow of wickets for ten overs before another spate of wickets helped checked their momentum.

It ultimately came down to the last pair of Phil Hackett and Kaizar Altaf and the pair added 35 in 77 balls to take it to the final over where Ellis held his nerve and Hackett shanked a back of a length delivery high in the air where Liam Kinch took the catch, as cool as you like, at long off.

This win reels Rothley back in closer to the pack and also keeps Dave Torr's men within the top four pack.