Afghan star shines for Skegness

Afghanistan international Hamid Hassan marked his debut in the Readers Lincolnshire ECB Premier League for newcomers Skegness with a seven-wicket haul against Caistor at Richmond Road.

The league’s latest import has been clocked at 90mph when playing for his country in the World Cup qualifiers, where he took 5-23 against Ireland as Afghanistan narrowly missed out on a place in the finals - and his speed proved too much for most of the Caistor batsmen.

Having lost the toss and been invited to bat, Skegness reached 219 for eight, Nathan Docker making 43 and Paul Butler 42; while for Caistor, James France took three wickets. Hassan dismissed the first four Caistor batsmen for only 27 runs but could not unseat the visitors’ Sri Lankan Sahan Wijerathne as he and Mark Gowshall steadied the ship with a stand of 51.

Saeed Bariwala then took two wickets in two balls but Wijerathne and Liam Wood added another 60 and when the Sri Lankan finally fell to Hamid for 91, he had helped Caistor to their final total of 161 for nine, Hamid taking 7-53 off 17 overs.

Bracebridge Heath and Nettleham both picked up 20 points to retain the status quo at the top of the table. At Mulsanne Park, where two bowlers finished with five wickets, Nettleham invited Lindum to bat, the visitors making slow progress but nevertheless reaching 83 for one off 28 overs.

At this point, Piers Morley-Barnes fell to James McKay for 43 and from here Nettleham’s bowlers took control, Paul Cook with 5-47 and McKay with 5-26 as Lindum were all out for 144.

In reply, Nettleham lost their first two wickets for 29 runs but 30 from Matt Smith and 45 for Rob Cook, which took the total to 101 for four, looked to have set them on the road to victory. However, when Cook was out to Matt Rutherford, the home side went on to lose three more wickets before claiming victory with 145 for eight, Rutherford finishing with 5-31.

At Bracebridge, the whole match took less than 50 overs as Aaron Keverne-Onyon took 6-28 to help bowl Messingham out for 75, Jason Scheepers making 39 of these runs and South African Tom Khoza making his debut for the leaders with 1-18 off seven overs.

Although the result was never in doubt, Bracebridge were made to fight for their runs as Danny Rands took the first wicket on 21 and Andy Langford claimed two more, all three caught behind by Cameron Fletcher, before the home side claimed victory in the 15th over.

Woodhall Spa looked like recording an even lower total than Messingham after being reduced to 26 for six by Bourne. But Sam Evison and Rob Bee dug in to add 35 and Evison went on to make an unbeaten 58 as the home side hung on to their last wicket to finish 109 for nine, Charlie Hopkins bowling a very economical 17 overs, taking 6-24.

Andrew Crook then took the only wicket to fall as Bourne cruised to a nine-wicket win, Ben Stroud with an unbeaten 54. Opening with Stroud was South African Craig Williams, making a welcome return to Lincolnshire cricket after a season with Hartsholme a few years ago.

In another low-scoring game, Market Deeping finally found form with a 20-point win at home to Sleaford, who were bowled out for 132, Mike Kearns taking three of the wickets and Luke Hollingworth top-scoring for the visitors with 36.

Deeping then lost a wicket in the second over but Paul Bird and Jamie Morgan (26) put on 87. Bird went on to make 50 and an unbeaten 29 from David Gillett took the home side to a six-wicket victory that moved them up from bottom place to fifth in the table.

Victory at Augusta Street sent Louth up to third, taking over from Grimsby on whom they inflicted a 58-run defeat. Louth skipper Arran Brindle opened the batting with Jim Morgan, putting on 45 for the first wicket and carrying her bat to finished unbeaten on 53 as the Louth innings closed on 176 for eight, Matthew Cocks claiming 4-25 off 17 overs.

Grimsby's reply started well, reaching 40 for one after 10 overs but the joint attack of Graham Bell and Jon Darke slowed the rate. And former Lincolnshire and Alford bowler Mark Irving proved his worth to his new club by dismissing Richard Antcliffe for 30 – the first time this season that the Grimsby skipper has failed to score 50.

Irving took 3-22 off 11 overs and Darke finished with 2-11 off eight as Grimsby were bowled out for 118.