Boston move up to second!

Lincolnshire ECB Premier League – Saturday 9 July

Boston move into second after win at Louth

This season’s big improvers Boston moved into second in the league after securing a seven-wicket win at Louth on Saturday.

Boston chose to field after winning the toss at London Road, and they soon had the home side in some bother after both openers found themselves back in the pavilion having scored just one run between them.

Louth found some fight in the middle order however, as Joe Irving top-scored once more with 48 and Stewart West blazed 47 from only 30 balls when he came in at number seven. West’s knock contained 3 fours and 4 sixes, which were vital in boosting his side’s score towards the 200 mark.

Louth ended their innings on 194 for 8, the pick of the Boston bowlers being left-arm seamer Scott Elleray, who claimed 3-30 from the 10 overs he sent down.

It would not be churlish to suggest Boston’s best two batsmen both open the innings together, and on this occasion they scored the majority of the team’s runs in chasing down Louth’s somewhat modest total. Jonathan Cheer, who scored 877 runs last season and won the league’s Most Improved Junior Player award, hit 48, and left-handed overseas pro Matthew Ward scored 79.

It was a comfortable win for the South Lincolnshire outfit, achieved with 10 overs to spare. Other results meant they shifted up into second position, but they are still 51 points adrift of the leaders Bracebridge Heath, who thrashed basement club Nettleham by 115 runs.

On winning the toss, Nettleham thought they could perhaps gain more points by bowling first, but an opening stand of 143 between South African wicketkeeper-batsman Jason Scheepers and Vikram Atri dented Nettleham’s belief of picking up maximum bowling points.

Scheepers blasted 84 from just 66 balls, hitting 17 fours and a six along the way. Atri, meanwhile, was more circumspect. He made his century from 107 balls before getting out the very next ball after celebrating his ton.

Youngster James Wright also chipped in towards the end with a quick-fire cameo of 28 before Bracebridge declared on 276 for 5 after 45 overs. They clearly felt Nettleham would go into ultra-defensive mode and just try not to lose the game, so they decided to give themselves five further overs to bowl them out.

As it happens, the extra time was not needed, as the Nettles were dismissed in the 46^th over for 161. At 87 for 7 it was remarkable that they got to that total. Skipper David Manby was the only highlight for the away side, scoring 57 runs and giving his team some respectability.

Left-arm seamer Brett Houston was typically tidy for Bracebridge, as he collected 4-44 from 19 overs.

Elsewhere, Bourne were the visitors to St. Giles Avenue to play struggling Lindum. The home side elected to field first after winning the toss, but after Stuart Turner captured the early wickets of Ben Stroud, Conrad Louth and Robert Bentley, things started to go awry.

Captain Peter Morgan scored his second successive century after starting scratchily, but his experience, range of shots and unflappable character came through once more as he followed up his ton against Woodhall Spa with another important knock for his side. Fahad Masood was his foil as he bludgeoned 46 of his own runs to help Bourne to a very competitive 236 for 8.

Lindum’s frustrations grew throughout the innings as catches went down and run-out opportunities were missed. By the end of Bourne’s innings the mood in the Lindum camp was morose, with players cranky and frustrated.

This mood was reflected in their reply as they were bowled out for just 114. Only Matthew Rutherford managed a score over 30 as he hit 41 middle-order runs to help take his side into a three figure score as quickie Masood ran riot. The plump paceman claimed outstanding figures of 7-31 as Lindum had no answer to his speed and accuracy.

All does not seem well at St. Giles Avenue, with Lindum now sitting third from bottom and their batting in particular failing to sparkle this season.

Sleaford’s winning streak finally came to an end at the hands of their bogey side, Woodhall Spa.

On choosing to bat first, Sleaford amassed just 205 for 7 on what is generally a very good pitch for batting at their home ground. At one stage Sleaford were 85 for 5, but captain Oliver Burford came in and shared partnerships of 53 and 67 with Stephen Bradford and Jonathan Miller for the 6^th and 7^th wickets respectively to help his side stay in the game.

Burford himself smeared 84 from just 60 balls, including 7 fours and 4 sixes.

In reply, Woodhall managed an opening stand of 76 which set them on their way to winning the game. Daniel Milgate and Sam Evison, the opening pair, chipped in with extremely useful runs, but the return of Pakistani international Fawad Alam is a huge boost for Woodhall. Alam scored 31 before being caught behind. His stand of 57 for the 4^th wicket with skipper Jack Luffman, who hit 40, was invaluable to Woodhall winning by four wickets with 16 balls to spare.

At Outgang Road, Market Deeping suffered a home defeat at the hands of Grimsby.

The visitors were put into bat at the smallest ground in the league and plundered 283 for 9. Overseas wonderkid George Linde top-scored with 83 for Grimsby, whilst Steven Crossley fell one run short of a half-century and Harry Warwick, another youngster, scored 34.

Deeping were never really in the game as a result of losing regular wickets, only skipper David Gillett managed a noteworthy 64 in the middle-order as they were bowled out for 166.

Linde was the overwhelming choice for man of the match as he took 4-39 to take his tally to 45 wickets this season already. Grimsby’s 117-run victory means they move into third position in the table – six points behind Boston.

At Skegness, four of the six batsmen that batted for the Seasiders in the first innings scored half-centuries as the home side amassed 276 for 4 against Hartsholme.

Big Zimbabwean Norman Brackley top-scored with 71, whilst left-hander Pete Houghton, wicketkeeper Carl Wilson and Aussie-turned-Englishman Wade McCall all passed 50 too.

Hartsholme could rarely exert pressure on the batsman by bowling consistently good lines and lengths, and the Skegness batsmen found putting away the bad balls all too easy on a slow, but good pitch.

In reply, Hartsholme dug in and achieved 228 for 6, meaning they scored enough runs to gain two extra points for the draw as well as picking up full batting points. Henry Rush was the star man for the Lincoln outfit, scoring 96 patient runs before getting out in the last over going for his hundred.

Written by Martin Shillito