Nick Keast stars as Lincolnshire sides complete busy fortnight
The last two weeks have been busy ones across Lincolnshire's county's men's and women’s teams – and included a superb knock of 181 by Nicholas Keast.
Cleethorpes Cricket Club was the venue for the county women’s team for the final games in the Vitality Blast T20 competition.
Norfolk were the opposition in the now familiar format of back to back T20 games.
In game one, Lincolnshire were relatively pleased at the half way stage having posted 132 for the loss of seven wickets, Hannah Hughes starring with a blistering 57 from 37 balls.
In reply, the Lincolnshire attack, restricted Norfolk to 107 all out.
Star performer with the ball was Abigail Hannan with the outstanding figures of 4-16 from four overs.
Game two followed a similar pattern, Lincolnshire again betting first and posting 125 -4 with Norfolk coming up short on 144 for the loss of five wickets.
Significant contributions this time came from Lauren Tuffrey (42 from 35 balls) and with the ball, Jess Thatcher (two wickets for 16 runs from four overs).
The following day saw Lincolnshire CCC’s men’s side take on the professionals of Nottinghamshire CCC in the annual showcase fixture.
In front of a bumper crowd, again at Cleethorpes CC, Nottinghamshire opted to bat first.
A strong batting line up, featuring the likes of former England international Haseeb Hameed, made a strong start and took full advantage of a splendid wicket and fast outfield, compiling an intimidating 376-6 from their 50 overs.
In reply, Lincolnshire found it tough going and, despite two excellent innings from local boy Jordan Cook (60 from 67) and youngster Ben Jones (48), Lincolnshire fell well short, finishing with 219 all out.
Despite the result, the large crowd that gathered were treated to some fantastic cricket and huge credit goes to Cleethorpes CC for staging both games.
Onto the NCCA County Championship and the first outing for Lincolnshire in the multi-day format of the game.
Sleaford was the venue and Cambridgeshire the opposition.
Day one was blighted by poor weather which led to the first innings stretching well into day two. Cambridgeshire, batting first, finished their 90 overs with a solid score of 352-6.
Mark Footitt, the standout bowler for Lincolnshire, finishing with 3-78 from 24 overs.
Needing to build a solid platform, Lincolnshire set about the task with discipline and despite the loss of two early wickets finished day two with two wickets lost and opener Nicholas Keast 105 not out.
Day three saw Keast power on and despite running out of partners managed to reach a sublime 181 before being dismissed in the 88th over.
Keast’s marathon knock was the highest score from a Lincolnshire Batter against Cambridgeshire for over 100 years and was the reason Lincs reached 312 all out from 89 overs.
With a meagre first innings lead and a pitch showing little sign of deterioration, the draw was the likely outcome.
Unfortunately, this was to be the case, with Lincs struggling to take early wickets and a cautious approach from the Cambs batting line up, a fourth innings run chase looked increasingly unlikely and the captains eventually shook hands after 54 overs, Cambs total on 168 for the loss of four wickets.