CAREER BEST NOT ENOUGH

OUTCASTS v SCOTHERN, LINCS LEAGUE DIVISION ONE, SATURDAY

By Glen Sands

Outcasts' bowler Tom Sharpe could have been excused at the tea interval if thinking he had done enough to earn his team a victory, having produced career best figures of 7 for 30 as Scothern had been bowled out for 105 but some woefully inept batting saw the Isle of Axholme side snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, being shot out for only 63 themselves.
Scothern made a sedate start to their innings, moving steadily to 43 before Sharpe struck for the first time , having Nathan Pearse caught behind by Richard Wroot for 22 then he produced a devastating over when taking no less than three Scothern wickets , those of Jonathan Drabble for 23 , Ian Brown and Sam Naughton , the latter two leaving him on a hat trick. Sadly for him it was'nt to be but he remained a threat to the visitors and eventually took a fifth wicket when having Ian McGowan caught by Darren Clark for 22 with the total on 82. Callum Pearse was trapped LBW for seven to move his wicket total to six and for a while he appeared set for an amazing 10 wicket haul , only for Jason Whiteley to step in with a wicket of his own , having Matthew Truelove caught by Andy Lawson at mid off with the overall score on 97. Sharpe did pick up a seventh victim , namely the stubborn Richard Johnson who had batted 80 minutes for just 15 runs , whilst Whiteley ended the innings with 3 for 20 as Scothern were bowled out for 105.
Outcasts response to such a seemingly comfortable target was quite frankly aweful. David Hobson and Richard Wroot gave them a solid start before Hobson was trapped LBW by slow bowler Ian McGowan for 13 e catch to McGowan off even slower bowler Richard Johnson with his own total on 10. Darren Clark played an equally poor shot to fall in exactly the same manner and when Andy Lawson was caught in the deep by Sam Naughton off McGowan Outcasts were teetering on 46 for 4. Peter Tait was next to go , simply guiding a leg side delivery to Matt Truelove at backward square having made seven and with the total at 54 skipper Andy Torr lofted a catch to John Drabble at deep mid off to give Johnson his third wicket. Bowling hero Sharpe was unable to stop the rot when he was trapped LBW by McGowan and when Jason Whiteley was out the same way but this time to Johnson it was apparant that Outcasts were in the process of giving away what should have been a comfortable win. Sure enough the final two wickets fell quickly , Russell Fletcher being bowled by a very good delivery from McGowan and Scott Buttrick by Johnson , leaving McGowan with figures of 5 for 25 and Johnson with 5 for 13.
So Outcasts' excellent victory at Louth only a week earlier counted for nothing as they surrendered weakly to the slow bowling of McGowan and Johnson, while Scothern continued their good form in circumstances that even they must have found surprising the way Outcasts capitulated.
Next on the adgenda for Outcasts is a home match against Holton-le-Clay when they will have to improve their batting if they are not to suffer a similar disheartening defeat!