CRICKET: Adlestrop climb back to top of table (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Bowlers Sam Keen and Dan Parker do the damage for Adlestrop

10:38am Monday 25th June 2012 in Sport

ANOTHER WEEK of disruption due to the weather in the SweetFuels CDCA Division 1, with only two of the five scheduled matches – those in the north and east of the region – being completed.

The top two teams met at Adlestrop where visitors Oakridge were invited to bat. The key moment came early when the prolific Mark Robbins was dismissed by Dan Parker for only two.

Parker went on to take 4-25 from his ten overs and helped to restrict Oakridge to 123 all out off their 40 overs. The outstanding bowling figures belonged to Sam Keen who took 3-12 off his ten overs.

Only Steve Robbins (28) posted a prolonged threat. In reply, Adlestrop kept in touch with the asking rate despite losing two early wickets. An excellent unbeaten partnership of 92 between captain-for-the-day Adrian Vale (51*) and Sam Keen (49*) saw the reigning champions home in the 36th over and took them back to the top of the table.

At Stow-on-the-Wold, the hosts were inserted on a soft wicket and reached a competitive 126 all out in the 38th over. Craig Chapman scored an excellent 53* despite good bowling from Gideon Long (4-31) and Matthew Winter (3-39).

Due to good bowling in helpful conditions, particularly from Seb Bevan (4-26) and Dan Smith (3-13), visitors Windrush could neither keep up with the required rate nor preserve wickets. When rain finally forced the players off the field in the 26th over, Windrush had reached 68-9, which was 14 runs short of the run-rate target at this point. Stow therefore won the match by 13 runs.

At Barnsley, further south and west, the rain came slightly earlier and saved visitors Oaksey from likely defeat. Oaksey batted first and, as expected, found run-scoring hard work due to some accurate bowling, especially by Vijay Sankuratri who took 1-8 off his eight overs. Roger Gillespie scored 25 and Nick Price 22 but the eventual total of 87-6 was well short of competitive.

The rain started falling straight after tea and made bowling more difficult. Barnsley made good progress but were still 27 runs short on 61-2 when the match was abandoned as no result after 13 overs.

At Sherston, still further south and west, the rain intervened even earlier with only 35 overs of the first innings being completed before the abandonment. For the record, the visitors NATS had reached 146-6 at this point with Varun Sharma scoring 56.

The Williamstrip v Chedworth match was cancelled due to a waterlogged ground.

Remarkably, after eight weeks of the season, Williamstrip have played only two matches.