OUTCASTS v BROUGHTON - LINCS LEAGUE DIV ONE

BY GLEN SANDS

What promised to be a hard fought and keenly contested match between Outcasts and league leaders Broughton turned out to be a cakewalk for Matty Hammond's team as they cruised to a seven wicket win against a lacklustre Outcasts side.

Home skipper Richard Wroot chose to bat first but were quickly in trouble when losing their opening three batsmen with only 24 on the board. Darren Clark was first to go , bowled yet again behind his legs , this time by namesake Shaun Clark for five then Andy Torr hoisted a catch to Tom Reed to earn Clark his second wicket. Skipper Wroot was superbly stumped by the quick silver reactions of Nick Dobbs , again off that man Clark then Peter Tait suffered a rare failure when he was well caught by Paul Reed off brother Tom with the total on 35. John Stokoe was digging in and along with Scott Buttrick he helped move the score onto 51 before he was fifth out , caught by Shaun Clark off Reed for a defient 26 then Andy Lawson , in at number seven took the game to Broughton with a well constructed 30 including five fours. The total stood at 95 when he was caught in the deep by Danny Minshall off Shaun Clixby and with just one further run added Buttrick was caught behind for 15 giving Clixby his second wicket in his third over. Josh Bramhill became his third victim when he was caught by Matty Hammond for just a single and spin bowler Paul Reed quickly wrapped up the innings when he had Graham Clark caught by Hammond again before Dobbs produced another stumping to send Tom Sharpe back to the pavilion , leaving Outcasts all out for a very disappointing 102 , Clark and Clixby finishing with three wickets each whilest the Reed brothers shared the other four.

To have any hope of winning the game the Priorymen needed early wickets and that simply did'nt happen as Neil Simpson and Matty Hammond batted sensibly from the off. They had put on 27 for the first wicket when Simpson was out to a tremendous tumbling catch by Darren Clark off brother Graham's bowling but the second wicket did'nt come until Broughton were within twenty three runs of victory. It was something of a strange dismissal too as Nick Dobbs drove the ball straight to John Stokoe then proceeded to wander out of his crease and consequently be run out as Stokoe threw the ball to Tait who whipped off the bails leaving Dobbs to walk off red faced with 25 to his name. They had progressed to 99 when part time bowler Andy Torr was brought on to bowl and he surprised David Jones by bowling him with his first delivery but it was too little too late and Matty Hammond went on to stroke the winning run to finish the game on 35 not out , earning his team a very comfortable twenty points with Outcasts snatching just one in a particularly disappointing display.

Outcasts would like to thank Humber Merchants Limited for sponsoring this game. Their next match sees them head to Messingham 2nds on July 6th when they will hope for an improved performance while Broughton take on Scunthorpe Town 2nds happy in the knowledge that they have a substantial lead at the top[ of the table.