Plenty to Cheer about for Boston!

Lincolnshire ECB Premier League – Saturday 30 July

Bracebridge with lack of Cheer after first defeat of the season

Boston inflicted defeat on league leaders Bracebridge Heath at the weekend in a top-of-the-table clash at the Mayflower ground.

Second-placed Boston cut Heath’s advantage at the top to 40 points – still a massive lead – after the Cheer brothers played huge roles in the eight-wicket win.

On winning the toss Boston elected to field first, with blond bombshell Colin Cheer claiming 5-78 as Bracebridge were bowled out for 182.

The quick bowler captured the wickets of the top three batsmen, Jason Scheepers, Vikram Atri and Karanjit Bansal all bowled following a steady first wicket partnership of 45 from Scheepers and Atri. He then managed to snick off promising young batsman George Neal to leave the runaway leaders of the league on 77 for 4 and in a spot of bother.

Three more wickets fell relatively quickly after that, and when skipper Paul Cook had to trudge from the crease leaving Heath on 100 for 7, all hope of posting near 200 had diminished.

An eighth-wicket stand of 66 from Jonathan Darke and Ashley Schultz was much needed to raise the visitor’s spirits again, and with a strong bowling attack full of confidence, Bracebridge would still have backed themselves to win at the tea interval.

However, they found Colin’s brother, Jonathan, in ruthless and brutal mood. In chasing down the 183 to win, the opener scored 128 not out from 143 balls, hitting 18 fours and a six along the way.

The defeat was Bracebridge’s first of the campaign but does not damage their title hopes too much. However, this was a somewhat embarrassing thumping they will want to avenge as quickly as possible.

Heath’s opponents next Saturday are Woodhall Spa, who suffered an embarrassing defeat of their own at the hands of Hartsholme at Jubilee Park.

The visitors won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch that was rock hard but had a tinge of green to it to encourage the bowlers.

Luke Smith bowled well early on and should have claimed the wickets of both openers, but Woodhall skipper Jack Luffman had a veritable nightmare in the field as he dropped them both within the first 15 overs of the game.

Hartsholme’s overseas pro Warren Nel went on to hit a magnificent 127, and Henry Rush, his opening partner, scored a calculated 53 in a first-wicket stand of 130.

That set Hartsholme up beautifully as they ended their innings on 244 for 7. Pakistani international Fawad Alam claimed 3-63 with his wily left-arm spin, whilst Daniel Milgate took 4-88 with his offies.

Hartsholme would have perhaps wanted to score 20 or 30 more, but Alam in particular bowled with skill and nous to stagnate their innings during the middle overs and give Woodhall a perfectly good chance of victory against their relegation rivals.

However, what occurred after tea was nothing short of astonishing.

Luffman’s day did not get any better as, in the second over of Woodhall’s innings, he ran out his opening partner, Sam Evison, before being strangled, caught down the legside, himself.

The hosts were reeling at 3 for 2 from two, and wickets just kept on falling at the hands of Hartsholme opening bowling pair, Rob Thorpe and Martin Shillito.

All of a sudden Woodhall found themselves an unbelievable 12 for 6. Not even Alam could rescue the situation when he came in at five, as he wandered back to the pavilion having scored an eight-ball duck – Woodhall at that stage 11 for 4.

A partnership of 48 between Jack Hughes, who struck 33, and Matthew Sargeant for the seventh wicket provided some respite, but Woodhall were eventually bowled out for 67, meaning a huge 177-run victory for the Lincoln side.

Shillito took 3-16 from 10 tidy overs, Thorpe 2-23 and Rush ended with figures of 3-2 as he came on and cleaned up the tail.

At Abbey Lawn, Bourne scored 202 for 8 against Louth despite at one stage being 77 for 5.

Charlie Hopkins rescued his side with 59 well-earned runs down the order before England womens international Arran Brindle bowled him. Experienced veteran David Christmas, nicknamed ‘Father’, struck a highly useful 34 to help the hosts past the 200 mark.

In reply, Louth lost early wickets, a bug bear of theirs all season, and at 44 for 5 were always facing an uphill battle to win the match.

Nuwan Shiroman struck 56, but no-one else could deal with the pace and aggression of Bourne bowler Fahad Masood, who claimed 5-60. Hopkins helped him out superbly in taking 3-44, including the wicket of Joe Irving, who has been in good form of late.

Louth were dismissed for 164 in just the 37^th over of their innings, 38 runs short of their target. Bourne move into third thanks to the victory, 11 points behind Boston in second.

A high-scoring encounter occurred at Sleaford’s London Road as the hosts chased down 260 in remarkably quick time against Market Deeping.

Young wicketkeeper-batsman Josh Bowers hit 97 for Deeping and was the anchor to their innings of 260 for 7.

Sleaford’s tracks are renowned for their flatness, so the home side will not have been too worried by Deeping’s otherwise extremely competitive total.

Captain Ollie Burford carried on his superb form for Sleaford, scoring 113 not out to surely win the man of the match award. Matthew Mountain also scored 67 as the London Road outfit won by six wickets with seven overs to spare.

After coming out victorious last week, Lindum will have travelled to Grimsby’s Augusta Street in high spirits, but they came back having suffered defeat this time around.

The visitors managed 224 for 5, both Richard Bishop and Geoff Middleton scoring fifties and young William Wright 41.

However, Grimsby went one better – three of their players hit fifties in Richard Antcliffe (52), Neal Snell (50) and Harry Warwick (59) as they recorded a comfortable seven-wicket win on what seemed like another Augusta Street featherbed.

Finally, basement boys Nettleham were thrashed once more, this time at Skegness.

The seasiders elected to field first on winning the toss and skittled their opponents out for just 101.

Skipper Antonio Santini took 5-12 and opening bowler Lochlan Christian claimed 3-36 as Nettleham struggled once more.

In reply, Skeggy did not lose a wicket in chasing down their target in just 17 overs. Left-handed batsman Pete Houghton smashed 67 from 47 balls, including 11 fours.

The Nettles failed to register a single point from the match and are now 55 points adrift of second-bottom Woodhall Spa and an amazing 79 points from safety.

Written by Martin Shillito

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