Hucknall Cricket Club suffered the first defeat of their 2022 Nottinghamshire Premier League season on Saturday (7 May) as they were narrowly beaten away at Cavaliers and Carrington Cricket Club by three wickets.

The hosts won the toss and put Hucknall in first which proved to be a savvy decision as they found some early joy removing opener Sam King (13) and Mathew Roberts (1) relatively cheaply, reducing Hucknall to 32-2.

However, George Buckthorpe and Hassan Chaudry steadied the ship with a crucial partnership of 78 runs. Buckthorpe would finish the innings as top scorer with 43 and Chaudry would be joint second top scorer with 38.

Waseem Fazal's unbeaten 38 late in the innings helped guide Hucknall past 200 to set Cavaliers and Carrington a reasonable target of 212 to win having finished their 50 overs on 211-8. Usman Arshad starred with the ball for the hosts as he recorded figures of 3-47 from his 10 overs.

Arshad then showed his ability with the bat as he scored a stunning 118 from the top of the order which anchored the Cavaliers' chase. Important partnerships of over 50 with both Imran Butt and Rehan Ahmed took them from a slightly precarious 18-1 to 145-3 and laid the foundations for victory.

Hucknall responded and when captain Adam Tillcock was dismissed for just 6, the hosts looked a little vulnerable at 189-6. However, Arshad was still at the crease and took Cavaliers to within two of victory before Fazal (2-44) had him caught by Jake Wright. Any nervousness that the hosts felt was quickly quashed though as Adam Ahmed dispatched the very next delivery for four to seal victory with an over to spare.

Speaking to Hucknall Nub News about the result, Hucknall captain Sam Johnson was in a reflective mood. He said: "It was a good game of cricket. We were probably 20 runs short of where we thought par was but nevertheless I was really really proud of the guys and how we stuck to it even when they formed good partnerships.

"I've got no complaints they were a bit better than us and that showed in the result but we showed really good spirit and if someone had offered me ten points from three games to start the season I would have taken it; so looking at the bigger picture we've had a good start.

"To be honest I thought the wicket got better which maybe I didn't anticipate. However, I think we batted pretty well, I thought they bowled pretty well to get us in the position we were in. When we got 211 I thought we might have been short but I didn't think we were miles away because the wicket did offer a bit of assistance.

"I was pretty happy with the batting. I look at the majority of the dismissals and we didn't maybe have the luck we needed to get a 230 type score, 240, and they're allowed to bowl well and they did. There's a reason they're a good side and they have been for a long time, it's that they've got a lot of good bowlers and a lot of good batters. We just did our absolute best and it wasn't quite enough, I'm obviously disappointed because you never want to lose but I thought we did alright."

Hucknall will be looking to bounce back on Saturday (14 May) when they return to action at home to Plumtree.