Lincs County League: Rasen First XI beaten at Cherry Willingham

The home side won the toss and elected to bowl, a decision which seemed to be the right move as Rasen soon found themselves in trouble at 13-3 after the first six overs.

Thankfully the visitors were soon able to recover as the pair of Neil Davies and Dave Papworth shared a partnership of 44 to take Rasen to 68 after 18 overs.

Soon after the halfway stage Davies brought up his half-century as he and Chris Higgins (29) added 56 to steer the visitors past 100 with 17 overs still to play.

Unfortunately when Davies fell for 57, shortly followed by Higgins, the chance of 200 looked a long way off, and Rasen were eventually bowled out in the 47th over for 160.

Cherry lost an early wicket in reply, but were soon well on their way to chasing down the total set.

The pair of Lee Coupland and Matt Smith saw off the new ball before pushing the score along at a quick rate as the home side raced to 90-1 at the halfway stage.

Coupland soon brought up his half-century before he was finally bowled for 72.

Smith continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over, and a quickfire 32 from David Manby saw Cherry reach the required score in the 37th over for the loss of three wickets.

The defeat leaves Rasen just two places above the drop zone in ninth, but are safe from danger with an 82-point cushion to second-bottom Outcasts.

And victory in their game in hand would lift them into mid-table into a tightly-packed Premier Division.

This weekend, the First XI have two matches as they welcome Scothern to Rase Park on Saturday, before Alkborough visit on Sunday. Both matches start at 12.30pm.