LUDDINGTON WELL BEATEN BY SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS

By GLEN SANDS

The Scunthorpe Scorpions produced a polished Broughton Evening League performance to comfortably beat Isle of Axholme side Luddington who were not at their best on Wednesday.
Right from the start Ludd were on the back foot as Scorpions' opening bowlers Ramesh Chand and Saikat Sarkar gave them nothing to hit and it was the impressive Sarkar who made an instant mark on proceedings when he bowled Russell Fletcher for four and then instantly repeated the trick to send home skipper Andy Lawson back to the pavilion.
Chand had Scott Buttrick caught by wicketkeeper David Brown for just a single and when Jamie Belton became Sarkar's third victim Ludd were floundering on 8 for 4 from six overs.
Damage limitation was the order of the day for the Isle side and for a while Peter Tait and Anthony Fitzgerald did just that, taking the total to 31 before Tait was caught by Matt Pashley off  Scorpions debutant Bilal for nine.
Then Liam McAnaney joined Fitz at the crease to attempt to set a decent total.
To their credit they did push the run rate on with Fitzgerald, in particular, showing an attacking intent - but he was to fall for 23, bowled by another debutant, Saj.
That saw Arron Curry stride to the middle with purpose. He and McAnaney took the total to 68 in the remaining overs, Curry smashing one spectacular six into the adjacent field to finish 15 not out with partner McAnaney on 13 not out.
But it was going to take a super-human effort for Luddington to prevent the Scorpions chasing down such a mediocre total.
Saikat Sarkar was the pick of the visitors bowlers with a terrific spell of 3 overs one maiden three for three which broke the back of the home side's batting order.
The ever-dependable Ramesh Chand opened the innings for the Scorpions with David Brown and from the start they sensibly kept the board ticking over until Brown was pinned LBW by Graeme Fletcher for six.
Scott Matthews joined Chand in the middle and without any fireworks they nudged the ball around and found the spaces in the field, taking the score to 53 with ease.
Matthews had reached 21 when he was stumped off Peter Tait's pads from the bowling of Jason Whiteley.
That brought youngster Luke Smith to the crease and along with Chand  who did not really break sweat in his not out 25, took their team to victory by eight wickets, Smith finishing the game on 13 not out.
So it was a bad day at the office for Luddington who were second best in all departments to an impressive Scunthorpe Scorpions who, if they continue to play like this, will certainly be up there challenging for the title come the end of July. 



HOW THEY STAND
1. BROUGHTON 4 4 0 0 0 12
2. APP FROD'HAM 4 3 1 0 0 9
3. SCUN SCORPIONS 4 3 1 0 0 9
4. LUDDINGTON 4 1 2 1 0 4
5. HIBALDSTOW 4 0 3 1 0 1
6. NORMANBY PARK 4 0 4 0 0 0