THE bets are as good as off. Another Saturday when the teams immediately below them were beaten means that Ockbrook & Borrowash are steaming towards their third Beechwood Derbyshire Premier League title in four years.

They brushed Ticknall aside on Saturday with a relentless combination of mean bowling and forceful batting to open a gap of 55 points on their nearest challengers, the latest of which are familiar old rivals Sandiacre Town.

You can point to the fact that such a gap is only the equivalent of two maximum points wins and that there are still eight matches to play.

But that would pre-suppose that Ockbrook suddenly found ways to lose cricket matches and also to lose them so badly that they did not pick up any points from them.

On Saturday's evidence, that is not going to happen. They have been a very good side for the last four years or so but the addition of Matt Lineker, from Alfreton, Charlie Ault, from Elvaston, and Ben McGonigal, from Belper Meadows, has made them look formidable.

Getting into the Ockbrook side is a tricky business. Chris Dunn, who opened the batting and kept wicket in the title wins of 2005 and 2006, can't do it regualrly at the moment, while Oliver Saffell, who remains a hugely promising quick bowler, and teenage all-rounder Jack Ratcliffe are in and out of the side, too.

Gareth Young, however, has managed to bridge the gap after several years of making only occasional first-team appearances, compelling his selection with consistently accurate and effective bowling displays.

And it was Young, in tandem with Lian Wharton, who tore the heart out of Ticknall on Saturday.

The South Derbyshire side were missing opening bat Paul Borrington, who had been called up by Derbyshire, but, for a while, Luke Harvey made batting look straightforward.

Wisely, he did not attempt to adopt Borrington's usual anchoring role but played his shots freely, despite losing opening partner Johnny Thompstone to a stinging catch by McGonigal at short cover off Neil Smith.

Harvey's response was to drive Smith over cover for six twice, remarkable shots both, and he raced to 50 out of 68, as he and Jack Lamb added 52.

Lamb, however, was struggling against Andy Harris, the Nottinghamshire bowler playing his first game for Ockbrook for three years.

But it was Young who shifted him, clipping Lamb's off stump with his third ball, and he also accounted for Woody Bridgeman, who went for his shots from the off but soon mistimed one to Smith at mid on.

At that point, if Harvey and Tanveer Ahmed, who began with a sweetly-timed four through point, had stayed together for any length of time, Ockbrook might have been chasing a big score, since the pair arrived at the halfway point with Ticknall on 111-3.

However, after playing quite beautifully for 70 out of 119, Harvey chipped a low return catch to Wharton and it was not long before the innings was in freefall.

Harris' brief return saw Ahmed and Ryan Cowley take 13 from an over but Ahmed's initial patience against Wharton ran out with a flash outside off stump and a nick smartly held by Russ Sexton behind the stumps. It was an intriguing battle emphatically won by the Ockbrook spinner.

Cowley managed what Ahmed had not, a big straight six into Victoria Avenue off Wharton, but he holed out to Ian Darlington at mid on soon after Young had returned to bowl Ticknall skipper Graham Chamberlain.

Young, now in a spell of four successive maidens, also had Ray McGuinness caught, Michael Jacques gave Wharton another wicket and there was only a well-struck cameo by veteran Dave Tee, including two fours and a six over square leg, to cheer Ticknall, before Harris belatedly grabbed a wicket with a very good diving catch off his own bowling to send back Zach Lucas.

After tea, Ahmed charged down the hill and, after virtually every ball, followed through to eyeball the Ockbrook openers – Lineker, of course, having been his captain at Alfreton last season.

It was pointless, energy-wasting stuff from the animated Pakistani all-rounder, as Lineker ignored a succession of bouncers, and the number of folded arms around the field perhaps suggested that Ahmed was not impressing too many of his team-mates either.

He had more luck winding up Matt Cassar, who did try to take on the shorter ball, before playing on to a rare fuller-length effort with the score on 28, although the bowler will surely be on report by the umpires for the send-off he gestured and shouted at the departing Cassar.

Johnny Owen, however, shared Lineker's take. They could afford to wait for Ahmed to be taken out of the attack.

Once he was, they began to score freely. Lineker, especially, is in the middle of an exceptional season, in which he is also currently on trial with Nottinghamshire.

He passed 1,000 runs for the season in League and Premier Cup matches last week, is storming away with the league's Player of the Year award and playing with supreme confidence.

Chamberlain's bowling spell lasted only one over, which cost him 12 runs, as Lineker pulled him powerfully for two fours, while Tee's spin was immediately cover-driven for four.

Lucas made no impression either and Lineker reached the smoothest of 50s in the 23rd over.

Singles from five successive balls indicated that the two batsmen were scoring pretty much at will as they reached 110-1 at halfway but, an over later, Lineker's first false shot, a wholly unnecessary heave at Harvey, saw him sky a catch to mid on.

There was, however, no respite for a plainly dispirited Ticknall, as Ault came in to play with a freedom he rarely showed during his fruitless spell at Sandiacre a couple of years ago.

A second spell for Cowley saw him go for nine and 10 in successive overs, while Owen, calmly going about his business, lifted Harvey for six and punched Bridgeman through cover for four.

Ault hurried the end by hitting the unfortunate Harvey, who had shown more life in the field than a lot of his team-mates, for three successive sixes over long on.

There was just time for Owen to complete an untroubled 50 before Ault cracked the winning runs, his innings closing at 43 from only 25 balls, with five fours alongside the three sixes.

That Owen, still one of the most destructive batsmen in the league, had been outscored in partnerships of 82 with Lineker and 72 with Ault only emphasises the strength of Ockbrook's batting.

It does not look too soon to call them champions elect.