National Village Cup

posted by John Winn

With one exception all the results from Round 5 of the NVC have now been published and the draw for the sixth round, to be played on Sunday 9th July is as follows.

Cresselly v  Langtons

Astwood Bank v Fillongley

Falkland v  Sessay

Hawk Green or Brook Walton v Cleator

Bledlow Village v Horndon on the Hill

Reed v  Mayfield

Aston Rowant v Rockhampton

Ynystawe v Roche Old Boys

The outstanding tie between Hawk Green and Brook Walton will be played on Sunday with a 1:00  start and will be broadcast on LiveSportsFM

Whilst Headingley and The Riverside have had two days of rain which has prevented any play those championship games where play was possible yesterday produced some remarkable cricket much of it in the last hour of play. In the first division Essex extended their lead at the top to 29 points with a thumping victory over Middlesex whose hopes of retaining their championship, revived a little by last week's win over Yorkshire, now hang by gossamer. In this match Kolpak Simon Harmer became the first bowler since Charlie Parker in 1931 to take 14 wickets in consecutive games. In the second innings he took  9 for 95 as Middlesex went from 252 for 5 to 262 all out. Last man Finn fell lbw with just two balls left. Meanwhile down on the south coast Somerset managed to salvage a draw against Hampshire but find themselves win less after seven matches and just two points above Warwickshire whose hopes of breaking their duck drowned at Edgbaston. Hampshire had tried to salvage something from the rain by declaring at 95 for 5 and came within two wickets of securing a fourth win when Somerset finished on 88 for 8. Somerset skipper Tom Able who is having a wretched season with the bat bagged a pair.

In the second division equally dramatic events were taking place. Derbyshire's win over Glamorgan was their first in the championship for almost two years and the hero here was sixteen year old Hamidullah Qadri who took 5 for 60 as Glamorgan went down by 39 runs at Cardiff. That was small beer however by the standards of Wantage Road where Leicestershire, set 394 to win lost by only two runs to Northants. A century for Ackermann  and fifties for Cosgrove and Pillans took the Foxes so close to what would have been their first win. Nearest rivals Durham closed the gap slightly by watching it rain. It would have been Leicestershire's highest ever successful run chase.

More championship action next week with of course Yorkshire v Somerset  at Scarborough and also cricket at Queen's Park Chesterfield where Durham are the visitors. Leaving partiality aside match of the week is probably Surrey v Hants, fifth v third but Surrey have a game in hand.