NCL: Rushden relegated as Desborough survive

Desborough celebrate a wicket during their win against Overstone, which secured their Premier Division status. Pictures by Finbarr Carroll

Rushden & Higham Town will be playing Division One cricket next season after they were relegated from the Hevey Building Supplies Northamptonshire League Premier Division on the final day of the season.

Needing to win to secure their safety, Rushden ran into some devastating batting at the hands of runners-up Peterborough Town.

Josh Smith’s 177 not out sent him through the 1,000-run barrier for the season and also saw him become the division’s leading run-scorer.

With Mohammed Danyaal adding an unbeaten 142, they shared an unbroken stand of 282 to take Peterborough to a club record 388-2 in 50 overs.

Overstone's James Sales is bowled by Desborough's Corey Young

In reply, Phil Materna struck 91 and Liam Gough hit 51 but Rushden were bowled out for 270 and condemned to the drop as Lewis Bruce took 6-64 for the hosts.

It meant that both Desborough Town and Overstone Park survived on the final day but it was Desborough who won the showdown between the two sides at West Lodge Park by 104 runs.

Zaakir Khawaja was the star of Desborough’s innings as he cracked 104 and Jake Bindley added 64 as the hosts reached 243-9 in 50 overs.

Bindley (4-12) and Corey Young (3-20) then starred with the ball as Desborough secured their status in emphatic fashion as Overstone were skittled out for 139, Benedict Harvey top-scoring with 41.

It was job done for the Desborough players after their 104-run win against Overstone ensured they will be in the top flight next season

Champions Finedon Dolben rounded off their memorable campaign with a nine-wicket win at Kislingbury Temperance.

Graham Cottle (54) and Ben Swingler (42) were the only home batsmen to get past 20 as Kislingbury were bowled out for 178 with Ed Hodgson (10-2-24-4) being the pick of the Dolben bowlers.

And the champions made the run chase look easy with Callum Berrill (91no) and Sean Davis (83) virtually getting the job done before Davis departed.

Brigstock’s impressive finish to the season continued with a three-wicket success at Oundle Town in a high-scoring encounter.

Mark Hodgson dominated the Oundle innings as he scored 127 from 133 balls to help his team to 273-6 from 50 overs while Tashwin Lukas, George Groenland and Muhammed Tayyib all took two wickets each.

In reply, good contributions from Groenland (62), Mohammed Saif (41) and Tom Swann (31) helped set things up for Patrick Croker (50no) and Ethan Delargy (32no) to finish the job for Brigstock on 275-7 with just three balls to spare, despite the efforts of Sam Jarvis (2-80).

The other game saw Geddington finish the season on a high as Matt Taylor’s century helped send them to a five-wicket win over Old Northamptonians.

There were contributions all down the order for ONs as they were bowled out for 218 with Andrew Reynoldson (4-11), Joshua Pistorius (3-35) and Ned Wilson (3-48) did the damage with the ball.

And it was Taylor (102) and Patrick Harrington (80no) who took the game away from ONs with a fifth-wicket stand of 133, Geddington eventually getting home on 221-5 with plenty of time to spare.