Skegness clinch win between showers

A thrilling one wicket win for Skegness over Nettleham provided the only action of the week in the Readers Lincolnshire ECB Premier League as rain scuppered the latest round of matches.

Rob Cook hit 65 as Nettleham were dismissed for 162 in the 50th over at Richmond Road, after he shared stands of 49 with Will Carter and 53 with Matt Smith.

When Smith was out, the visitors looked reasonably comfortable on 108 for four but they hit the buffers when Michael Jackson took his second wicket and Saied Bariwala mopped up three more for the addition of just four runs leaving the Lincoln side struggling on 112 for eight.

David Manby and David Hutchinson restored some order, taking the score to 151 before Hutchinson fell to Paul Butler for 22 and Manby was unbeaten on 20 when Butler took the final wicket to finish with 3-27 off eight, Bariwala taking 5-37 off 17.

Skegness set off in pursuit at a fine pace, Bariwala hitting 40 of a first wicket partnership of 48 with Jamie Epton before being run out. Two wickets for Will Carter then made it 55 for three and two for James McKay and another for Carter then reduced Skegness to 104 for six.

By now, Wade McCall was at the crease and he and Sean Chamberlain inched the score ever closer to the target.

By the time Chamberlain was bowled by Paul Cook, just 22 runs were needed and McCall and Jackson reduced the deficit to 10 with three wickets still standing.

But the Nettleham bowlers had not given up and McCall found himself clean bowled by Carter while Jackson fell to Cook and it became 10 required with one wicket left.

This left Craig Heppenstall and Steve Kirkham to defy the attack and take Skegness to 164 for nine and 20 points, Carter finishing with 4-46 off 16 overs.

At Market Deeping, Jason Scheepers hit 48 and Ian Dawson 39 as Messingham reached 177 for nine, but with the home side on 85 for three rain stopped play for the day.

However, on Sunday, in a game brought forward from the end of the season, Messingham had more success.

Playing Bourne at Northfield Road, Irfan Ahmed took 4-37 off 14 overs and Andy Langford 3-26 off seven as the visitors were bowled out for 145, Mark Dixon the top scorer with 44.

In reply, Scheepers was a early casualty of the Bourne attack falling to Will Clough with 11 on the board but Dawson (27) and Chris Barnett added 55.

Ben Stroud gave Bourne some hopes of victory when he bowled Barnett and Dave Dawson in successive overs but by the time he took his third wicket, Messingham had reached 120 and Ahmed and Langford saw their team home to a five wicket victory and a very welcome 20 points.

Of the remaining Saturday games, the game between Louth and Caistor at London Road came closest to completing, the rain finally washing the game out with just three overs to go.

After Louth had been invited to bat, Rory Osmond and Jim Morgan got the innings off to a good start with a stand of 53 and Osmond and Nuwan Shiroman added a further 78 before Osmond was lbw Saham Wijerathne for 63.

Shiroman went on to make 57 and Arran Brindle and Jonathan Darke (20) shared a sixth wicket partnership of 48.

Brindle was unbeaten on 34 as Louth reached 231 for seven and Caistor were soon in trouble, losing a wicket on one. But Peter Briggs and Wijerathne put together a partnership of 60 and when the Sri Lankan was bowled by Osmond for 64, Caistor were 138 for six. However, with 20 more runs added and just three overs to go, rain prevented any further play.

At Woodhall Spa, Andrew Crook boosted his total runs to 821 for the season and took five Sleaford wickets as the visitors once again batted well to make 248 for eight off their 50 overs. Jonathan Adams was the most unfortunate batsman, being run out just six short of a century, while Oliver Burford made 50 and James Rickett 40.

In reply, Crook made 41 and Conrad Louth 66, with Ricky Lovelace unbeaten on 28 when the match was washed out with Woodhall on 151 for three and 19 overs still to go.

Michael Brown took five wickets for Grimsby who were in a good position to chase Bourne’s total of 134 when they were forced off the field on 65 for two. Will Clough held the Bourne innings together with a knock of 40, with Craig Williams contributing 31.

Grimsby lost an early wicket but had reached 64 for three with Gihan Perera unbeaten on 28 when rain stopped play.