Middle Rasen boost hopes with Bracebridge Heath win

On a sunny afternoon, hosts Bracebridge won the toss and elected to bat first.

Dan Norburn, as he has done twice already this season, took a wicket in the first over of the match, but Heath then recovered as Carl Stubbs scored freely to close in on his half-century.

But when Darren Salmon was introduced to the attack, the visitors seized the initiative as he took regular wickets on his way to impressive figures of 6 for 28 off nine overs.

Dan Norburn returned to take two more wickets as Bracebridge Heath were bowled out for 158.

Stubbs was the stand-out performer for the home side as he finished on 66.

In reply, Middle Rasen got off to a bad start as they also lost a wicket in the first over of their innings.

After 15 overs they were 44-3 and struggling to get to the target set.

However, a 54-run partnership between Will Bradford and Dan Quinlan put them in a good position with 12 overs to go.

Quinlan fell for 27 and Bradford departed just an over later for 54, but Middle Rasen knocked off the winning runs with three wickets in hand to pick up 20 valuable points.

The result lifts Rasen to fifth ahead of their penultimate fixture of the season - a trip to bottom side Boston on Sunday, August 28 (1.30pm start).