Elleray hits half century as Boston CC record opening Lincs ECB Premier victory

Boston CC secured their first win of the Lincs ECB Premier campaign when Woodhall Spa visited on Saturday.

With a week of rain, the ground staff had done a fantastic job in even getting the game on.

However, with that being said, the Mayflower Cricket Ground pitch, was certainly a bowl first pitch.

This made the toss even more important and fortunately for Boston, the coin came down in their favour and captain Jonny Cheer, had no hesitation in bowling first.

The opening bowling partnership of Scott Elleray and Tim Bell made run-scoring difficult and they both picked up one wicket each in their opening spell.

Bell removed Karan Parmar with a ball that nipped back to bowl Woodhall’s opener and Elleray picked up the wicket of Sam Cherry after a great catch by Joe Gilbert in the gully.

Oliver Caswell and Jack Hughes attempted to re-build the innings and although they batted time, Boston’s bowlers made run-scoring more difficult.

Paul Deans was the man to break the partnership when he managed to find the edge of Caswell’s bat.

Hughes then soon followed, edging to first slip off the bowling of Paddy Turner.

Tom Caswell then came and went – again, falling to Turner after a smart catch by Luke Gilding.

With Woodhall at 38-5, Boston definitely had the better hand.

A hard-fought 18 run partnership from Gareth Grant and George Lindsey gave Woodhall some hope but Martin Hodgson picked up his first wicket, dismissing Grant leg-before-wicket.

In the next over, Deans picked up Lindsey and Nick Bennett to leave Woodhall 57-8.

It wasn’t long before Boston had nine wickets when Hodgson picked up his second.

At 59-9, Boston could have been forgiven for thinking the job was done.

However, Woodhall’s final pair, Alex Hodson and Nick White, had other ideas and fought hard to build some respectability to their score.

The pair worked really hard, took their time and managed to put on 42 runs for the final wicket.

It took Boston until the 44th over before Turner managed to pick up their final wicket, to end Woodhall’s innings on 101.

“It was a great bowling display from us – we bowled really well and other than four or five bad balls, they had to fight for every run.” Cheer said.

Every bowler played their part but the pick of the bowlers were Paul Deans 3-14 from 10 overs, Paddy Turner 3-19 from 9.4 overs and Martin Hodgson with 2-23 from his 6 overs.

At the tea interval, Boston would have been very happy with their efforts with the ball – there would have been some frustrations around the final wicket but if you bowl a team out for 101, you’d take that.

After the tea interval, Tom Poole and Scott Elleray went out to open the batting.

With Elleray being promoted to the top of the order, the expectation was that Boston wanted to get on with it early.

The next 30 minutes were something that nobody was expecting as Elleray took a liking to Woodhall’s opening pairing of King and Bennett, hitting four boundaries and four sixes in his 50 that came off only 22 balls.

When Elleray was dismissed for 50, Boston had amassed 59 runs.

Cheer continued where Elleray left off and made batting look easy, taking Boston closer to their total.

With two runs needed to win, Poole was dismissed, being caught at mid-on off the bowling of Tom Caswell for 8.

In the next over, with the scores tied, Cheer was bowled by Cherry leaving Mahir Yousuff and Gilbert at the crease with neither having faced a ball.

The following ball was a wide and that was the ball that took Boston to their first victory of the season, and a much needed 20 points.

Cheer was happy with the victory and said, “It was pleasing to make the batting half of the game look easy.

"I always knew 101 was something we should be chasing, but it was great to do it so convincingly – It’s great to get a win on the board, especially against a side down the bottom with us.”

Boston’s man of the match was awarded to Scott Elleray for his entertaining innings that lead to his fourth Lincolnshire ECB Premier League half-century.

Elleray said: “I like to get on with it when I get out there and today, I saw it well and everything seemed to find the middle of the bat.”

Boston’s game against Woodhall Spa was sponsored by the The White Hart Hotel, Boston.

On Saturday, Boston Second lost at SLBL Premier Skegness by 115 runs.

Norman Brackley's unbeaten 108 helped the hosts to 252 for 4, with support from Warren Nel (45) and Jamie Epton (43).

Rowan Evans (47) top scored for Boston, who were dismissed for 137.

Nel took four wickets.

Boston Thirds were beaten by 39 runs at Baston in the SLBL Division One.

Boston's Aaron Bradshaw took five wickets and Ben Newton scored 33 runs.