BOURNE FREE TO CELEBRATE YET?

By Ann Boulton

Bourne moved a step closer to sealing the Readers Lincolnshire ECB Premier League championship with a five wicket win over rivals Bracebridge Heath, Charlie Hopkins taking six wickets and Fahad Masood moving four closer to the league record as the former champions where bowled out for 107.
Sleaford moved above Bracebridge into second place after Dammika Gunawardena hit his second century in successive weeks and Jonathan Adams made 56 to help their side to victory over Market Deeping who were all out for 199, Stephen Bradford taking five wickets.
Sleaford still have mathematical chance of catching the leaders and both play teams from the bottom three next week before meeting at London Road in the final match of the season.
Just a fraction behind Bracebridge are Skegness who were involved in the closest game of the day at Augusta Street where almost 500 runs were scored.
Batting first, the seasiders notched up 254 for four, Saeed Bariwala making 80 and Carl Wilson an unbeaten 81. Grimsby’s pursuit included 58 from Richard Antcliffe and 50 from Gary Tillison as the home side edged closer to their target, only to end 14 runs short as the final wicket fell on the last ball of the game.
The two bottom teams both enjoyed a good day, Boston overcoming Nettleham by eight wickets after bowling their visitors out for 157. Jonathan Cheer and Alan Mountford then put on over a hundred for the first wicket, making 62 and 54 respectively as the home side coasted to victory.
And Hartsholme recorded a winning draw at home to Louth who hung on to their last wicket to take a vital extra three points from the game. The bottom side made 199 for seven before holding Louth to 176 for nine.
The highest total of the day came at Jubilee Park where Lindum notched 282 for eight, Geoff Middleton making 81, before bowling Woodhall Spa out for 171.

RESULTS
Bracebridge Heath 107 (Hopkins 6-59), Bourne 111-5; Nettleham 157, Boston 159-2 (J Cheer 63, Mountford 54); Sleaford 310-9 (Gunawardena 130, Adams 56), Market Deeping 199 (Bradford 5-53); Lindum 282-8 (Middleton 87), Woodhall Spa 171; Skegness 254-4 (Bariwala 80, Wilson 81no), Grimsby 240 (Antcliffe 58, G Tillison 50);
Hartsholme 199-7, Louth 176-9.

HOW THEY STAND
Team P W L Draw/Tie NR Bat Bowl Win Draw Total Percent
Bourne 20 11 4 1 4 64 70 110 9 253 79.06%
Sleaford 20 10 5 1 4 57 66 100 1 224 70.00%
Bracebridge Heath 20 9 6 0 5 50 60 90 0 200 66.67%
Skegness 20 11 6 0 3 51 64 110 0 225 66.18%
Lindum 20 8 7 2 3 60 62 80 14 216 63.53%
Nettleham 20 6 6 4 4 54 47 60 26 187 58.44%
Market Deeping 20 6 6 3 5 49 46 60 15 170 56.67%
Grimsby 20 3 7 7 3 65 55 30 41 191 56.18%
Louth 20 5 7 4 4 42 54 50 14 160 50.00%
Woodhall Spa 20 5 8 3 4 51 44 50 13 158 49.38%
Boston 20 5 10 1 4 36 58 50 3 147 45.94%
Hartsholme 20 2 9 4 5 42 49 20 14 125 41.67%