South Notts League: Belvoir eclipse Long Eaton

This brought Ross Denton to the crease and saw a stand of 19 runs in 15 overs with a resilient Tony Wade before the latter holed out at deep long on.

A determined and combative Phil Irvine (32) joined Denton (53) in the match-defining partnership of the game – 75 from 14 overs to take the score to 151.

Denton needed 37 balls to get off the mark before the runs started to flow as his timing blossomed and his confidence grew.

His final 40 runs came at a run-a-ball and included six sweet boundaries as Belvoir posted 171.

Cooke steamed in and put the ball in good areas, adding two late wickets to the three he took in the top order to finish with 5 for 63.

He was well supported by Kagiso Rapulana (3 for 37) and a wonderful legside catch by keeper Brett Scothern.

In reply, six Long Eaton batsmen got to double figures, but none made it into the twenties.

Joe Bottomley bowled the Eaton numbers three and four with successive deliveries, while Danny Gibson was his usual aggressive self in a spell of 12-1-28-2.

Long Eaton soon found themselves at 41-4, and Greg Oldfield’s spin collected 2 for 16 to remain Belvoir’s principle wicket-taker.

But the bowling plaudits went to Phil Irvine (4 for 26). Buoyed by his batting success, he had top scorer Tim Taylor caught by Ryan Lewis, one of three smart pouches by the keeper, in an elegant and accurate spell of seam bowling as the visitors were bowled out for 109.