Buxton beat Ashover Barbarians to stay joint top of the table

Ashover won the toss and opted to bat on another true and consistent surface.

A dominant start from their captain R. Cooke left the away team on 130-0 at drinks and Buxton in need of a breakthrough.

A good spell of consistent bowling from Fran Slater (4-41) and Nick Allen saw the fall of Ashover’s middle order and their captain, who eventually departed on 125.

Another fine exhibit of pace bowling from Harry Griffin (4-46) saw the Ashover innings close in the final over with a daunting total of 271.

Buxton’s batting innings started solidly and in line with the run rate required.

A fine knock from Martin Sollis (69) and quick fire runs from captain Andrew Slater and Harry Griffin (46) left Buxton on 137-2 at drinks, with the game very much still in the balance.

A few loss of wickets brought Matt Whitehouse to the crease (81 not out), who showed an excellent display of power hitting as the home team reached their target with ease, finishing on 275-5 with 6 overs left to spare.

In other games, Buxton second XI lost by five wickets to Riddings seconds (Dave Belfield 46, Joe Bagshaw 43, Phil Slater 3-32), while Buxton thirds won by eight wickets against Clowne Town fourths (Alastair Bearman 55, Tony Woodall 54 not out, Joel Sanchez 3 for 28, Sam Longden 3-32.

And there was an incredible achievement on Sunday when Buxton fourths travelled to Matlock and Cromford Meadows to face their thirds where Ben Crispin with 112 not out and Mark Wood 105 not out put together an unbeaten first wicket partnership of 253 in their 40 overs.

Unfortunately the rain came and the match was abandoned.