CLIFTON seconds travelled to a showery Elvaston on Saturday and came away beaten by 145 runs.
With Clifton level on points with Rosehill with a game in hand it was a good chance for them to try and get out of the relegation zone.
Clifton won the toss and elected to bowl on what looked to be a dry wicket.
Ed Wilson and Neil Sanderson opened the bowling attack for Clifton but were met by an Elvaston pair who looked to rotate the strike and hit regular boundaries.
Eventually openers Archer (24) and Callaghan (25), were dismissed by good bowling from Sanderson.
Charlesworth was then caught behind third ball off the bowling of Wilson leaving the home side in a tricky situation on 64-3.
However, Clifton were soon frustrated by the Elvaston middle order of Mills and Harrold, as chances were few and far between.
The reintroduction of Ed Wilson finally brought the wicket of Mills, who was caught by Will Wilson for 99.
Clifton then picked up two further wickets from runouts, both by Ed Wilson, the pick being a turn and throw following through from his own bowling.
With the score on 245-6, Elvaston declared.
The only Clifton bowlers to take any wickets were the opening bowlers who finished with 2-49 (Wilson) and 2-46 (Sanderson).
It was important that Clifton got off to a good start but when Barker was clean bowled by Bull it looked like being a tough afternoon.
Brewell joined Will Wilson at the crease and looked to be aggressive, hitting two fours before he too was bowled by Bull for 15, leaving the visitors on 24-2 off just eight overs.
Rupert Sanderson suffered the same fate as Barker and Brewell when he was bowled by Bull for 10.
Brothers Ed and Will Wilson looked to stabilise the innings before Will Wilson mistimed a ball and lobbed it straight to Charlesworth at silly mid-on.
The game came to a halt during the sixth wicket partnership when sunlight stopped play — the sun was directly over the bowler’s arm making it impossible to see.
Shortly after the game resumed, Brewell was dismissed which brought Edward Harvey to the crease with the score on 84-6.
The 15-year-old guided the second ball of his innings Harvey through point for four and then looked to occupy the crease with Jones in order to gain further batting points.
With the sunlight proving to be a persistent problem, the game had to be stopped again, and on the resumption, Jones was out for 24, leaving Clifton in deep trouble.
With both Robson and Marshall being dismissed without scoring, defeat looked certain.
Although Neil Sanderson and Edward Harvey tried to frustrate the bowlers, in fading light Sanderson was trapped lbw by a good yorker from Bull leaving him with figures of 5-29 off 12.2 overs.
With three games of the season left, Clifton find themselves second from bottom of Division 5S and 13 points adrift from safety.
