HUSSNAIN Sajid took career-best figures of 8-13 – the best so far this season in the Martin Berrill Sports Bristol & District League – only to be denied a chance of victory as rain had the final word in Stapleton 2nds’ Division Five trip to Pucklechurch.
The hosts were staring down the barrel at 19-9 after only nine overs when heavy rain forced a break in play. And conditions never relented, forcing the Division Five match to be abandoned mid afternoon.
Spare a thought then for 17-year-old Hussnain who hit the stumps eight times on his way to improving on his previous best figures of 7-13 two summers ago.
Hussnain grabbed the first four wickets to fall before new ball partner Christian Leggatt got in on the act with a strike, stand-in captain Andy Jones taking a catch behind the stumps.
That made the score 4-5 before Hussnain claimed four more victims ahead of the game being washed out.
Remarkably, his final analysis could have been even better as the right-arm seamer sent down five wides and a no ball!
Stapleton remain second with two more rounds of games to go while leaders Bristol Sri Lankans are champions in all but name after trumping Bristol Lions by three wickets, Dilshan Dhanushka (4-26) and Amarajeewa Mudiyanselage (3-8 from eight) leading the charge.
Rain was again a big talking point across the 17-division league with virtually every game affected in some way.
The showers, though, did not stop Senior Division pacesetters Bradley Stoke from enjoying a four-wicket victory away to third-placed Stapleton.
Noveed Mahmood (56) led Stapleton to 167-5 from 34 before Bradley Stoke were set a target of 188 from 45, opener Myran Moore cracking 48 at the top of the order before Ben Rivers – the league’s leading wicket taker – put the focus on his batting with an unbeaten 45 from 34 which included four sixes.
Fourth-placed Pak Bristolians kept their outside promotion hopes alive with a 61-run victory at OB Westbury, who remain second.
Taimour Warraich hit 53 before Qaisar Shahbaz led the charge with the ball, returning 3-19 from seven.
In Division Four, Rishiv Vij claimed 6-6 from eight overs to pave the way for Long Ashton’s seven-wicket home defeat of Winterbourne 3rds.
And in Division Nine, Jason John’s haul of 7-31 from 6.5 overs helped complete a 111-run home victory for Bohemians 2nds over their Portishead counterparts.
Golden Hill 2nds went 37 points clear at the top of Division Two after overwhelming their Brislington counterparts by 157 runs, captain Ash Bonynge-Pearce capturing 5-7.
MARTIN Millard went through the 1,000-league run barrier for the summer with an unbeaten 71 for Division Seven leaders Dyrham & Hinton who defeated Bristol New Eleven by eight wickets.
The opener has notched up five centuries for the village outfit, along with four other scores of more than 50, to total 1,019 runs in 12 games for an average of 101.9.
Dyrham are now certain of promotion while the title is within reach thanks to a 33-point lead with two rounds of games remaining.