Savage takes six wickets for Cutthorpe at Queen's Park

Cutthorpe made the short journey to Queens Park to take on Chesterfield looking to build on the excellent victory the previous week over Sandiacre Town.

That win had moved Cutthorpe to eighth in the table, one place above their opponents, who had suffered a five-wicket lose at Ockbrook & Borrowash.

With the forecast mixed and a shower during the warm up the covers didn’t come off the pitch until quite close to the start time so on winning the toss Cutthorpe skipper David Bush decided to bowl first. This saw an early contest between the two form men of the Premier League as leading run scorer Mykylo Bird faced up to leading wicket taker Josh Savage.

Chesterfield’s started the day in cautious mode, losing an early wicket as Bird went for two, bowled by Savage, before a partnership between Ben Slater and Nitish Kumar blossomed to reach 117-1 at the mid innings drinks interval.

Kumar was particularly prolific including a couple of sixes amongst a range of boundaries before departing to a miscued shot for 81 with the total on 143-2.

Savage struck for a third time six runs later when he had Slater caught behind for 56 at which point the innings lost some momentum as new batsmen struggled, with Savage proving to be such a handful even when a muscle complaint forced him to bowl off a shorter run.

Will Davis contributed a quick 26 and Alex Hibbert returned to good form to shepherd his side through to the close with an undefeated 56 as Chesterfield posted a 50 over total of 266-7.

Savage claimed a further three wickets in the closing overs to record figures of 6-72 and further enhance his growing reputation by taking his tally to 26 wickets after only five games, which is close to double the next best aggregate in the Premier League.

Cutthorpe’s promising start was interrupted when the Chesterfield opening bowlers took a wicket apiece but from 33-2 there were no further successes in spite of a hostile spell from Will Davis who subjected Kevin Leatherday to a bombardment of bouncers. Rain brought a premature ending to the contest with the score on 64-2 leaving Chesterfield with 12 points to Cutthorpe’s eight. Chesterfield travel to Sandiacre and Cutthorpe entertain Denby.