AWESOME DISPLAY OF HITTING

By Glen Sands

Luddington finally managed to take to the field for the first time this year last night, following a rained off game at Askern and a cancelled one due to their opponents being unable to field a team.
Ludd picked up a hard-earned win over Division Two champions Burn, in what was a very sporting and enjoyable match.
Burn batted first and made a decent start, racing to 31 off five overs before Adamson was caught by Graeme Fletcher off Liam McAnaney for 10 - and with just two further runs added fellow opener Ed Clark was back in the hutch, having edged a catch to wicketkeeper Jamie Belton (pictured) off the bowling of Jonathan Wroot for 21. Mark Webster and Nick Croad then put together a partnership of 38 despite some excellent bowling from the impressive Wroot and Graeme Fletcher, but it was spin bowler Craig McAnaney who broke the pair when Croad was caught by Russell Fletcher for 11 and Webster quickly followed when he had reached 25, caught by Matthew Teal off Graeme Fletcher, who deserved his wicket. A Watson and D Adamson then took the score past three figures before Watson was caught by Liam McAnaney off Peter Tait for 24 and two further wickets fell on 105 as Burn went in search of quick runs, Craig McAnaney picking up a second with two run-outs to bring the final 20-over total to 108 for 8 for the visitors.
Luddington's reply began rather slowly as Jamie Belton and Darren Clark were made to fight for every run by the Burn opening bowlers Jake Webster and Nick Croad. Belton had reached just three when he was caught by Ray Adamson off Webster with the score on 14 - and when Clark was dismissed for eight, bowled by the excellent Webster, Ludd were rocking a little on 26 for 2.
However, stand-in skipper Andy Lawson took the game away from the visitors with an awesome display of hitting.
And even though he was out for 22 his battering of the bowling changed the flow of the game. Peter Tait, in at number three, batted just as well for the Isle side and ultimately won the game with a majestic 58 not out, aided by Russell Fletcher who farmed the strike to him with a staedy 12 not out as Luddington made their way to 112 for 3 with a couple of overs to spare.
So the teams retired to the River Don at Eastoft for curry and chips, happy in the knowledge that they had both played their part in a very entertaining game.
Next up for Luddington is a daunting away trip to Fishlake whilst Burn play hosts to Askern who will be smarting from their first defeat of the season, having lost to Fishlake by just three runs yesterday.