Woodhall Spa miss out on George Marshall T20 Cup final glory

Three T20 matches brought together Lincoln-based Heath, Woodhall Spa and Spalding.

In the opening game against Woodhall, Bracebridge scored a challenging 149-6, thanks in part to 60 off 50 balls from Arishka Tharindu in a partnership of 87 with Krish Barla (29), and Prasanna Jayawardene took 3-23 for Woodhall.

After the loss of two early wickets, Jayawardene and Harry Hollingsworth took the total to 62 but from there, the batsmen failed to build partnerships and the final wicket fell on 104 with three balls to go.

Spalding then took to the field to play Woodhall, inviting them to bat, and this time Jayawardene anchored the innings with an unbeaten 70 off 49 balls as Woodhall finished on 135-4.

In reply, Spalding lost two wickets for 18 runs, but Divyeash Vaseeharan and Walter Kinlock took the total to 50, then Barnaby Dring contributed 35 and when Vaseeharan was out for 49, Spalding were close to their target on 119-5.

Going into the last over, 14 runs were needed for victory and as Jamie Coles launched a six off the second ball, the win was in sight.

But George Pocklington kept his cool and had Coles caught off the next ball.

The fourth ball was a dot and with only two runs coming off the next ball, Woodhall were sure of victory, winning by five runs.

Spalding then faced Bracebridge, again choosing to field and the Lincoln side set off in fine style, 36 runs coming off the first four overs before Alex Willerton fell to a catch off Nilantha Atapattu for 24.

Sam Mason hit 23 and when Tharindu was out for 34, Bracebridge were 98-3 but the run rate had slowed and the innings was entering the 17th over.

Three more wickets fell in the next two overs but a quickfire 16 from Alex Clegg took the total to 119-7 at the close.

Alex Dickinson then took three wickets for nine runs and Spalding found themselves 23-5 and despite the efforts of Vaseeharan (39) and Ethan Lawrence the innings ended on 91-9, Dickinson’s early bowling success winning him the Man of the Match award.

The last of the cup finals takes place at Market Rasen on Saturday, 29th when Barton seconds, Market Rasen seconds and Caythorpe will challenge for the Mike Savage Cup.

Back in the league, with only three weeks to go to the end of the season, Louth beat Hartsholme to go third in Championship North but Messingham have a tight hold on the top spot, leading by 46 points, while Market Deeping lead Championship South by 29 points.

Outcasts lost to Scunthorpe second in Division One North but still top the table by 43 points, but Division One South is much closer with Long Sutton leading by 16 points from Freiston who beat Billingborough, despite Matt Carter’s unbeaten 104, Abdul Moeed taking 6-29 to help Freiston to victory.

Appleby Frodingham seconds look comfortable at the top of Division Two North, but Orton Park seconds need to win their two games in hand if they are stay ahead of Royal Boston in DivisionTwo South.

In the North, Lee Robinson hit 18 boundaries in his 120 for Hibaldstow in their 154-run victory over Horncastle.

Asked to bat first, Hibaldstow smashed 311-6, George Luya adding 93, including 15 fours and a six, and the pair put on 111 for the third wicket. Richard Hickling took 3-54.

In reply, Horncastle were skittled out for 157, Muhammad Afzal magnificent with 103, including 17 fours and two sixes, but unable to find partners to stick around, Joe Taylor ending with 3-35.

Division Three returned some of the best performances of the day, Richard Wells hitting 153 not out for Heckington seconds against Castor & Ailsworth seconds and Phil Lunn taking 6-20 for Cherry Willingham seconds against Scothern seconds.