LINCS ECB PREMIER: Round-up

A five wicket victory over Woodhall Spa, in which Tom Shorthouse hit an unbeaten 89, put them six points ahead of reigning champions Bracebridge Heath who were bowled out for 188 by Bourne, Paul Cook making 51.

But Bourne were unable to make major inroads into the total and were in turn all out for 115.

Scunthorpe Town’s first match in the Premier League, after two washed out weeks, brought victory over Lindum who set a target of 198, Charlie Tomlinson making 60 and Will Taylor an unbeaten 50.

Karanjit Bansal and David Brown got the reply off to a good start with an opening stand for 48 but two wickets then fell for the addition of only one run. Ian Snowden joined his skipper in a stand of 57 and after Bansal was out for 57, Snowden anchored the innings as three more wickets fell.

And from 149-6, Snowden (56no) and Ben Brumby (37no) saw Scunthorpe to victory.

A low scoring game at Gorse Lane saw Grantham bowled out for 134 by Alford who were then dismissed for 115. And after victory in a high scoring match in their first game of the season, Market Deeping failed in their attempts to chase Louth’s 168, being bowled out for 135 of which Josh Smith hit 67.

Xander Pitchers and Josh Court each took four wickets for Louth.

Grimsby Town hit the day’s highest total and had the only century maker in new signing Harry Warwick who made 114 not out.

Warwick went in after Boston claimed the first wicket on 10, joining Matt Cliffe and together this pair put on 162 before Cliffe was out for 66.

Another wicket fell but Geoff Middleton and Warwick saw Grimsby to 213-3.

The second innings followed the same pattern, a wicket falling early then a good partnership but Boston couldn’t match the Grimsby scoring rate and at 25 overs had less than 60 runs on the board.

Jonny Cheer (47) and Ishan Jayarathna added 74 and Jayarathna went on to make 54 but despite the efforts of skipper Tom Baxter with an unbeaten 27 Boston fell short, finishing 189 for six.

Results:

Louth 168-6, Market Deeping 135 (Smith 67); Woodhall Spa 144, Sleaford 145-5 (Shorthouse 89no); Lindum 198-8 (Tomlinson 60, Taylor 50no), Scunthorpe Town 201-6 (Bansal 57, Snowden 56no); Bracebridge Heath 188 (Cook 51), Bourne 119; Grantham 134, Alford 115; Grimsby Town 213-3 (Warwick 114no, Cliffe 66), Boston 189-6 (Jayarathna 54).