Northants Cricket League round-up: Unlucky Northampton Saints denied by rain

Wollaston posted 158-9 in their innings and, led by Zak Harvey (46) and Elliott Patterson (64no), Saints made a fine effort in their chase.

However, they finished two runs short of victory when their truncated innings came to an end.

The fact only 24 overs had been bowled means that no result could be declared.

Holders Peterborough were the big winners. The men from the Soke moved back to the top of the table by collecting an eight-wicket win over Rushden while only one other game was able to reach a conclusion.

They bowled their visitors out for just 85 and knocked off the runs with minimal fuss.

The other match to produce a result saw Oundle just deny Burton Latimer a first win of the season.

Burton had limped to 104 all out in the face of some excellent bowling by Bashrat Hussain (14-2-48-4) and Petrus Jeftha (13.3-4-41-6).

The small target looked like being plenty, though, as Oundle crashed to 17-7.

Victory was a long way off but the tail wagged to a tremendous extent.

Jeftha and Peter Foster (19) added 26 for the eighth wicket before Ben Graves (16) joined the South African to contribute a stand of 49 for the ninth.

There was still a lot of work to be done when Graves departed but number 11 Hussain (11no) gave Jeftha (44no) all the support he needed and the men to who did the damage with the ball earlier ensured Oundle sneaked to an unlikely one-wicket success.

Horton House were on 184-8 against Stony Stratford when their match reached a premature end while Finedon Dolben had reached 32-0 in pursuit of Brixworth’s 127 all out at the time rain forced them off.

Rushton were frustrated in their attempts to hold on to top spot.

They had Old Northamptonians eight down for 198 at the close meaning their 216-8 in the first innings could only bring them a winning draw.

That was the outcome in Division One for second-placed Geddington as they tried to close the gap on leaders Finedon Dolben 2nd.

Good lower-order contributions - particularly from number eight Lee Sutherland (50no) - helped them make 187-8 in 50 overs.

With only 29 overs to respond, the Dolben made sure they gave their rivals no boost and saw the game out at 81-4.