CENTURY IN LOSING CAUSE

LINCS LEAGUE DIVISION ONE

By Glen Sands, Outcasts CC scorer

Outcasts produced a magnificent performance to gain an unlikely victory against Holton le Clay in a rain-affected match at Hirst's Priory and it was their skipper Mark Coulman that won it for them when scoring a tremendous 84 not out from 88 deliveries as they successfully chased down 205 to win.
Holton le Clay chose to bat first and made a steady if unspectacular start , openers Peter Thompson and Paul Holmes adding just 14 runs in the first ten overs. They began to push the scoring rate along before Thompson was bowled by Tom Sharpe for 28 with the total on 70 after 22 overs then Ian Bellamy strode to the crease and instantly forced the pace , cracking 18 in just 22 deliveries then he perished , caught in the deep by Darren Clark , again off the bowling of Sharpe. Holmes had reached a half century and along with Danny Portus took the score to 165 before Portus was well caught behind the stumps by Mark Coulman for 26 , earning Jason Whiteley his first wicket of the day. Sam Ford then joined Holmes who by now was in terrific form and he took his own personal score to exactly 100 in the 45th over. Ford was bowled by Alex Fletcher for seven off the final ball of the innings which meant that the visitors had scored 204 for 4 , producing a stern test for the Isle side if they were to pick up the ten points for a victory.
David Hobson and Andy Lawson opened the batting for Outcasts and both appeared to be in good form as they raced to 33 from just eight overs before Lawson was caught in the deep by Ian Hallam off David Taylor for 14. Skipper Mark Coulman joined Hobson and they had moved the total up to 60 for 1 off 16 overs when the heavens opened and the umpires took the teams off for what in the end turned out to be a 50 minute break. The league rules dictated that the game was now a timed match , meaning that Holton le Clay had 20 overs after 6 30 in which to gain victory and Outcasts needed 145 in the same time. Coulman batted superbly after the rain break , aided by vice captain Andy Torr whilst sadly for HLC the wet conditions made the ball very difficult to bowl with , allowing the two Isle batsmen to force the issue with an array of blistering shots. They added 98 valuable runs in no time , Coulman bringing up his half century before Torr was bowled by Danny Portus for 29 with the total on 161 for 3. Russell Fletcher then joined Coulman and they continued their relentless run chase with further fabulous shots , racing them to 205 for 3 and a quite outstanding victory with more than two overs of the allotted 20 remaining , Fletcher making 27 not out and Coulman a match winning 84 not out for the Isle team.
So the poor showing against Scothern was well and truly rectified with a much more impressive performance and they will now hope to continue their form on Saturday when they entertain Cleethorpes 3rds at the Priory. Perhaps they should pray for another rain interuption as it certainly brought the best out of them on this occasion!