LINCS ECB PREMIER: Round-up

There's a big day of cricket in store at Hove

Bracebridge Heath celebrated another 20-point win to go clear at the top of the Readers Lincolnshire ECB Premier League, while Market Deeping failed to move off the bottom of the table.

Bracebridge scored a convincing win over a young Grimsby side, who were unable to cope with the bowling of Alex Willerton and Andy Carter, while Deeping went down to newcomers Alford, who now occupy equal third place in the table.

The tightest game was at Spalding where the home side failed by the narrowest of margins to pick up their first victory of the season after putting Sleaford in to bat.

The first wicket fell on nine but from here Sleaford made steady progress to 84 for three.

Three more wickets went cheaply before Cameron Hall joined skipper Shaun Morris in a stand of 49 to take the total to 152 for seven, and Hall was unbeaten on 47 when the final wicket fell on 190.

Spalding’s innings followed much the same pattern with a sixth wicket stand of 55 between Jonathan Miles and Luke Hollingworth, which took Spalding to 138 for six.

Hollingworth and Matt Gill helped the score to within 15 of victory but the Sleaford bowlers stuck to their task, Hall taking the final wicket on 185 with three balls of the match remaining.

Matt Lineker hit a polished 65, Matt Carter 82 and Carl Stubbs an unbeaten 67 as Bracebridge notched up 318 for seven.

Lineker and Carter put on 122 for the third wicket after Grimsby had taken the first two wickets for 52 runs and Stubbs and Alex Willerton shared an unbeaten final partnership of 49.

Grimsby quickly found themselves 16 for four but Brendan Volley and Jack Harrison dug in and, when Harrison fell to Willerton, the score had reached 46.

Volley continued to attack the bowling, hitting four fours and three sixes and had reached 39 when he ran out of partners with Grimsby’s score on 64, Willerton with seven for 43.

The only century of the day came at Grantham where Dan Freeman hit an unbeaten 104 and shared an unbeaten stand of 96 with Dan Webb (60no) to take the home side to 251 for four.

Bourne got off to a good start, reaching 90 for the loss of two wickets and with Carl Wilson at the crease runs flowed steadily, the wicketkeeper putting on 59 for the fifth wicket with Quewin O’Connor.

Wilson finally fell to Freeman for 72 making it 225 for eight and only six more runs were added before Grantham claimed victory.

Rikki Bovey hit 83 of Alford’s final total of 243 at Market Deeping and Nick Bennett’s six for 61 helped his team seal victory as the home side were all out for 203.

Last week’s joint leaders Woodhall Spa suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of Lindum who got off to a poor start to the season.

James Kimber took an early Woodhall wicket but Pradeep Chanditha (58) and Henry Wilson added 101 for the second wicket and Prasanna Jayawardene chipped in with 42 to take the total to 220, Jake Benson taking five wickets.

Lindum had reached 59 for three when Will Taylor joined skipper Charlie Tomlinson to add 88 and Tomlinson put on a further 61 with Euan Pickering before being out for 95, leaving Pickering and Benson to take Lindum to victory.

Results: Bracebridge Heath 318-7 (Lineker 65, M Carter 82, Stubbs 67no), Grimsby Town 64 (Willerton 7-43); Woodhall Spa 220 (Chanditha 58, Benson 5-61); Lindum 222-5 (Tomlinson 95); Grantham 251-4 (Freeman 104no, Webb 60no), Bourne 231 (Wilson 72); Alford 243 (Bovey 83), Market Deeping 203 (Bennett 6-61); Louth 212-5 (Darke 65no), Boston 214-4 (Poole 81); Sleaford 190, Spalding 185.