NORTHANTS LEAGUE: Shock defeat for Town and Oundle lose as well

The Northants League Premier Division pacesetters travelled to Brixworth on the back of four convincing victories and a draw and were fully expected to extend their unbeaten sequence and improve on their position at the summit. Instead they suffered a six-wicket loss after their worst batting display of the season. They arrived to find a lush green track dampened by a pre-match downpour and struggled to unearth runs from it. After losing the toss they were put into bat and 45 overs later they’d been dismissed for just 150. None of the big run-getters made an impact and tail-enders Chris Milner (30) and Joe Dawborn (26) emerged as the top scorers. Spinners Alex Starmer (3-51) and Callum Guest (3-20) proved particularly difficult to score runs off. There were excuses but in truth it was still a poor showing with the bat. Conditions had improved for Brixworth’s response and they applied themselves better to get home with six wickets in hand and plenty of overs to spare. Of the Town bowlers Joe Dawborn (1-25 off 15 overs) and Jamie Smith (2-21 off 7 overs) were the pick. Town picked up just two points and have had their lead at the top of the table cut to five points. Peterborough Town Asim Butt c Bowers b Bonthus 5 David Clarke b Starmer 19 Lewis Bruce c Guest b Bonthus 6 Alex Mitchell c Bowers b Bonthus 27 Kieran Judd b Starmer 2 David Sayer run out 8 Joe Dawborn b Starmer 26 Chris Milner c Bowers b Guest 30 Danny Mohammed c Bonthus b Guest 6 Mohammed Saif not out 1 Jamie Smith lbw Guest 4 Extras 16 TOTAL: 150 Bowling: Ross McLean 6-3-17-0; Stuart Bonthus 12-1-41-3; Ashley Starmer 15-2-51-3; Will Thomas 4-0-16-0; Callum Guest 8-3-20-3. Brixworth Alex Lacey lbw Smith 1 Johnny Bowers c Mohammed b Smith 10 Mark Bell b Dawborn 7 Callum Guest not out 73 Will Thomas run out 27 Henry Timm not out 13 Extras 13 TOTAL (4 wkts) 152 Bowling: Joe Dawborn 15-5-25-1; Jamie Smith 7-0-21-2; Lewis Bruce 11.4-0-55-0; Danny Mohammed 9-1-37-0; David Sayer 3-0-8-0. There was also a first defeat of the season for second-placed Oundle. They were at home to Geddington and lost by four wickets. Mark Hodgson (75) and Peter Foster (72) formed the backbone of Oundle’s 214-7 before Geddington reached 218-6 in 44.1 overs. In Division Two, Peterborough Town seconds beat Earls Barton by seven wickets at Bretton Gate. Richard Kendall (3-41) and Daniel Oldham (3-48) were the top Town bowlers as Earls Barton were bowled out for 228 and then Kyle Medcalf (59), Scott Howard (68no) and Oldham (56no) steered Town home with almost 10 overs remaining.