LINCS ECB PREMIER: Lindum and Grantham to contest Wilkinson Family Trophy final

Lindum and Grantham will contest the Wilkinson Family Trophy in next Saturday’s Lincolnshire ECB Premier League divisional final.

Both won through their semi-final play offs but where the game at Bourne saw a century and a total of nearly 400 runs scored, at Grantham it was the bowlers who dominated.

Lindum travelled to Bourne after Chafer bugs forced the reversal of the fixture when they attacked the outfield at St Giles Avenue and, having won the toss, elected to bat on what looked like an excellent track.

But Bourne quickly gained the upper hand when Matthew Kidd claimed two wickets in one over to leave the visitors 19 for two.

However, that was Bourne’s only early success as Will Wright and skipper Rob Cook set about repairing the damage, putting on 154 for the third wicket. Wright made a patient 57 before falling to Jack Berry but Cook went on to finish unbeaten on 107 and take his side to 228 for three at the close of the 40 overs.

Bourne also took advantage of the good batting conditions and, after losing a wicket in the second over, Jack Berry and Sam Evison kept the scoreboard moving steadily with a stand of 72.

Berry fell to a catch off Cook for 28 but Pete Morgan and Evison kept up the momentum and when Morgan went, Archie Stroud hit a brisk 24. But once Stroud was out, closely followed by Evison, caught off Pranav Pothula for 56, Bourne’s challenge faded and the final wicket fell on 173, Pothula finishing with four wickets and Cook three.

At Gorse Lane, Bracebridge Heath won the toss and decided to bat but found the Grantham attack hard to repel, Dan Freeman taking the first two wickets for 13 runs. Curtis Free took the next on 31 and with three of their top four batsmen gone, Bracebridge were up against it.

Nick John and Kit Spence took the total to 51 and Spence and Vikram Atri put up a good resistance but once Spence was out, the Grantham bowlers continued to make life difficult for the batsmen and Atri lost four more partners before being last man out for 46 in the final over of the innings.

This left Grantham chasing 137 and opening pair Ross Carnelley and Jaden Fell put on 75 of these before Fell went, leaving Carnelley and Ben Coddington to take their side to victory with 77 and 35 respectively and nine overs of the match remaining.

Results Lindum 233-3 (Cook 107 no, Wright 57), Bourne 173 (Evison 56); Bracebridge Heath 137, Grantham 138-1 (Carnelley 77).

Next Saturday’s final will be held at Bourne, starting at 11.30am.