CAISTOR v OUTCASTS - GEORGE MARSHALL TROPHY

Outcasts bowed out of the George Marshall Cup on July 6th when suffering their first defeat of the season at the hands of Premier Division Caistor Town but they gave a good account of themselves before ultimately falling 38 runs short, writes GLEN SANDS.
Caistor were invited to bat first with openers Harry Boulton and Paul Dimbleby putting on 31 before the former was comprehensively bowled by Tom Sharpe for 22. That brought in form Kiwi Lane Tutty to the crease and he made a confident start only to then sky a catch to Darren Clark off Sharpe when he had reached 15 and Outcasts made further in roads when opener Dimbleby was tempted into a rash shot by Clark which saw him caught by Oliver Coulman for 27. Home skipper Gareth Johnson , back from a nasty knee injury and Rory Ronaldson then took the total to 117 before the same combination of Coulman and Clark accounted for Johnson having made 32 then Liam Wood joined Ronaldson and they began to press on with some outstanding running between the wickets , adding 50 in no time before Wood was caught by wicket keeper Richard Wroot off Liam McAnaney for 16. There was just enough time for Ronaldson to bring up a well desreved 50 from the final delivery which left Caistor with a score of 173 for 5 from their 45 overs. Tom Sharpe ( 2 for 25 ) and Darren Clark ( 2 for 32 ) were the pick of the bowlers for Outcasts although everyone kept things reasonably tight on what is a very big playing surface on which to defend.
Having chased down a similar total at Cherry Willingham in the earlier round Outcasts knew they were capable of repeating the feat but they lost early wickets which made the task all the more difficult. Andrew Lawson was first to go , bowled by Paul Jackson for five then Josh Bramhill quickly followed , caught by Mark Gowshall , again off Jackson with the total on 24. Only four more runs had been added when Matthew Teal departed , terrifically caught by wicket keeper Lane Tutty to give Jackson his third wicket and Tutty was in the thick of the action again when brilliantly stumping Darren Clark off Oliver Barrick to leave the Isle side struggling at 35 for 4. Opener Oliver Coulman was standing firm and batting well on the back of a half century at Owmby a day earlier and Peter Tait reigned in his usual style to stick around and help to rebuild the innings. Caistor were bowling tightly and boundaries were at a premium , then Coulman fell six short of another half century , caught and bowled by Paul Dimbleby to make it 80 for 5. Richard Wroot joined Tait knowing his team needed the two of them to take them toward their target but he was trapped LBW by Dominic Bishop for six and when Tait then chopped on to Rory Ronaldson having reached 28 the writing was on the wall. Tom Sharpe and Stuart Clark took the total to 115 before the latter was very well caught by Liam Wood off Dimbleby and despite a splendid effort from Sharpe who eventuall went for 21 Outcasts were eventually dismissed for 134 , Paul Jackson taking 4 for 17 as the pick of the bowlers for Caistor who progress into the Semi Finals to take on Scunthorpe Town.
So the unbeaten run has finally come to an end but there was no disgrace in this defeat as Caistor proved to have just that little extra on the day.It is back to league matters for Outcasts now and a local derby against Haxey 2nds which means they have the opportunity to get back to winning ways and put this loss behind them.