After a quick Carling in my local, we headed to Alfreton for the first action of the day. A short stroll through the delightful Alfreton Park led us to the ground. Alfreton were entertaining Denby 2nds in a must-win game for the home side if they were to achieve their promotion dream.

Alfreton Park - delightful

Alfreton started briskly and John Aspinall was soon into his stride capitalising on some poor Denby bowling. A succession of off stump half-volleys were readily despatched to the boundary. Alfreton were clocking up the runs at a steady five an over, but disappointment was soon to follow as their star overseas Rajesh Ramesh hold out to deep mid-wicket. The look of disgust on Aspinall's face was a picture as he threw down bat and gloves and marched off in the direction of square leg.

A disgusted John Aspinall can't believe what he has just seen

Ramesh (right) trooped back to the pavilion hanging his head in shame, but he was to make up for his moment of madness later with the ball.

This brought Andy Buckley to the crease to join Aspinall. The pair continued to rip apart the Denby attack and a massive Alfreton total looked on the cards. Aspinall's fifty was reached in the 17th over before going on to 81. Buckley, meanwhile, was awesome and registered an unbeaten 118 in an Alfreton total of 261 for 4.

Final scores:
Alfreton (19) 261-4 (Aspinall 81, Buckley 118*) drew with Denby (8) 176-9 (R Perry-Taylor 44, Aspinall 4-67, Ramesh 3-53)

With news filtering through from Sawley that rain had stopped play and with the clouds gathering at Alfreton, we headed back into the town for the short bus journey on the Red Arrow to Sharley Park.

There were two reasons for a trip up to the Cross. One was to see the progress of their second ground, and also to catch up on the 5 North promotion nail-biter.

The second ground at Clay Cross viewed from the boundary of the present ground

You can keep an eye on the Clay Cross ground development on their official site - click here.

Staveley 2nds had long since gained promtion, but the second place was a close run affair involving South Wingfield 2nds, Langley Mill and Denby 3rds. The Millers went into the final weekend with a six point advantage over Wingfield and Denby, but who would keep their heads?

Wingfield had batted sensibly and declared with three overs to go on 209 for 3. John Hardwick was to be the man of the match following his 80 runs with the bat with a fine 4 for 11 as the Cross capitulated to an all out 75.

Action from Clay Cross 2nds v South Wingfield 2nds

Final score:
Clay Cross (1) 75 all out (J Hardwick 4-11, R Hardwick 4-27) lost to South Wingfield (27) 209-3 (J Hardwick 80, Marshall 69) by 134 runs

A quick call to Danny Parkin at Marehay forced a change of plan and the scheduled visit to the Maryfield was abandoned. In the division one relegation battle, Marehay were continuing their fine run of form skittling Spondon for 77. They were well on their way to an early finish as we left Sharley Park.

Final destination for the day was the Mill to see the other promotion candidates in action. It was my first visit to the ground since the cup battle with Stapleford earlier in the year and another cliffhanger was on the cards again.

Darley Abbey, themselves going through a fine run of form, were aiming to steer away from the drop zone and a score of 201 for 7 looked within reach of the Millers. Paul Bailey raced on to fifty, but was out straight after. The Millers onslaught on promotion was beginning to falter.

Langley Mill skipper Rich Davey holes out in a desperate run chase

In a desperate chase for the vital runs, the Millers lost wickets at regular intervals. With 12 wanted off the final over, the chase looked impossible. Six was required off the last ball, but despite a brave attempt to hit the ball out of the ground, the ball raced through to the keeper.

Final scores:
Langley Mill Utd (11) 197-7 (P Bailey 50, Mee 31, P Smith 4-28) drew with Darley Abbey (16) 201-7 (Latham 40, Wilkinson 61*, Hood 32, Ball 4-65)

Langley Mill's promotion attempt was dealt a further blow when Mitch confirmed a Wingfield victory. 27 points for Wingfield and only 11 for the Millers leaves Wingfield looking favourites for promotion. But cricket is a funny old game!

Full Saturday results can be found here.