APP-FROD WIN AT OUTCASTS

BY GLEN SANDS


Outcasts finally played a Lincs League Division One home league game on Saturday - just a day short of July - but sadly for them they were beaten in a highly entertaining game which was a credit to both teams and to umpires Keith Barnes and Nigel Fisher who ensured the game was completed despite several showers that threatened to bring an early end to proceedings.
Home skipper Russell Fletcher won the toss and invited Frod to field first and that decision appeared a good one when  Will Theakston was bowled by Jonathan Wroot for four with the total on just eight. New Zealander Guy Harley and Mick Bramley then took the game to their opponents with some excellent batting , taking the total up to 71 before Harley was caught by Fletcher off Scott Buttrick for 35 but there was to be no respite as Ben Taylor joined Bramley to push the score past the hundred mark. The impressive Bramley had made a splendid 67 when he was deceived by a slower delivery from Jason Whiteley but Simon Taylor kept up the momentum as he and Ben took the total to 167. Whiteley broke up the Taylor dominence when bowling Ben for 37 then Darren Clark took the first of two excellent catches in the deep to send Simon back to the pavilion for 20 , earning Whiteley his third victim of the innigs. To their credit Outcasts then slowed the scoring rate with some good tight bowling from Whiteley and Andy Torr who claimed his first wicket when Clark held another good catch off Mohamed Ayub who made nine , then Frod skipper Vince Grimes was unluckily stumped off Richard Wroot's pads as the Steelmen finished on 195 for 7 , Whiteley being the pick of the Priorymen's bowlers with 4 for 59.
The Outcasts innings was interupted early by a heavy shower which saw them off to a spluttering start and they were quickly one down when Ayub's slower delivery trapped Andy Lawson infront of his stumps. Darren Clark and Scott Buttrick were finding it difficult to pierce the field and although they kept things ticking over they were having a tough time. Buttrick eventually went to a Simon Leek catch off Liam Grimes for nine then Clark was caught by Harley off slow bowler John Taylor for 25 and Outcasts were 51 for 3 and teetering on collapse. However Richard Wroot and Andy Torr batted excellently , running well and pressurising the field as they took the total past three figures but Frod then hit back when Torr was very well caught by Simon Taylor off Ben Bramley for 31 with the overall score on 114 and within another three runs Wroot was also gone , trapped LBW by Ayub also for 31. Tom Sharpe was promoted up the order to try to hit some lusty blows whilst the busy Peter Tait kept his side in the hunt before Sharpe was the victim of another good catch by Tatlor for 18.Skipper Fletcher joined Tait as the weather once again took a turn for the worse but the umpires kept the teams on the field and were ultimately proven right as the rainclouds swept by. Tait was bowled by Ben Bramley for 22 and despite the best efforts of Fletcher , Jason Whiteley and Jonathan Wroot the Frod side held their nerve to restrict Outcasts to 177 for 8 , some eighteen runs short of the target they had set.
So Outcasts remain in the lower reaches of the Division One table whilst Appleby Frodingham , although not gaining a full twenty points maintained their promotion push as they reach the half way mark of the season.
Outcasts would like to thank Hunters Estate Agents for sponsoring the match.