WHILE Ockbrook & Borrowash were winning at a canter against Ticknall, their challengers in the Beechwood Derbyshire Premier League were slipping up again.

Chesterfield and Spondon, closest to Ockbrook before Saturday's matches started, were both beaten and it is Sandiacre Town who have now moved up into second place.

Sandiacre might not have been at all sure about continuing their recent improved run when Lullington Park spinner Paul Dawson took 7-31 to send them packing for 143, with only John Trueman's 34 making much impression.

But Lullington struggled with the bat, too, and were bowled out seven runs short from the last ball of the innings, with only Steve Dixon passing 30 and James Chapman taking 3-35.

Champions Spondon are still third but they lost a thriller at Alvaston & Boulton, also off the last ball of the match.

Having made only 197-7, in which Dave Hartley top-scored with 43, they pegged A&B back in the first half of the reply.

However, the home side looked to be cruising when Chris McIlroy and Anthony Woolley began to up the scoring rate.

There were more twists to come as McIlroy departed for 52 and Woolley for 61, prompting a flurry of wickets, and the winning runs came only from the final ball, with nine A&B men back in the pavilion.

Elvaston have given themselves just a glimmer of escaping their plight at the bottom of the table, after securing one of the four wins captain Nick Briars believes is the minimum they need.

They kept Quarndon down to 159-7, with Kevin Hollis making 46 not out and Ian Hall taking 3-45, then another good knock from Australian Brett Crichton saw Elvaston home by seven wickets. He rushed them to victory with 61 not out from 41 balls, with seven fours and four sixes, while Lee Archer emerged from a poor run of form with 41.

The departure of their Loughborough University players with the end of the academic year has seen Alfreton slide down the table and they suffered a third successive defeat on Saturday, after Ilkeston Rutland set them 220-8, Dave Smit scoring 51.

In reply, Alfreton got to within four balls of sneaking a draw but they were bowled out for 109, Jay Adendorff taking 3-10.

Chesterfield's recent good run of results ended when they gambled with a declaration in a rain-affected match at Dunstall.

They called a halt with 202-5 on the board after 35.1 overs, a pretty good effort in which Brian Gladwin made 67 and Ben Slater 54.

Dunstall found runs easy to come by, however, and raced past the target in 33 overs for the loss of only two wickets.

Opener Jamie Benstead rattled up an unbeaten 102 and was well supported by Derbyshire batsman John Sadler (49) and Paul Shaw (38), in a result which sees Dunstall join the group of four, separated by only 11 points, who are challenging for second place.

Below that, 20 points separate five more clubs battling to stay above the relegation places occupied by Ticknall and Elvaston.