LINCS ECB RUNNERS-UP SPOT SETTLED

By Ann Boulton

The Readers Lincolnshire ECB Premier League season of surprise results continued right to the final weekend when Sleaford beat champions Bourne to claim the runners-up spot and Lindum came seemingly out of nowhere to claim third place after beating Bracebridge Heath.
At the start of the day Bracebridge and Skegness were both contenders for second place but the seasiders went down to Market Deeping and had to be content with fourth with Bracebridge finishing fifth with Deeping in sixth.
At the foot of the table, Boston moved out of the bottom two, beating Woodhall Spa to push them down into 11th, while Hartsholme went down to Nettleham for whom Warren Nel hit an unbeaten century to finish with 928 runs, the top batting figures for the season.
An eventful game at Augusta Street saw Gary Tillison take seven Louth wickets, including four in four balls as his side recorded their eighth draw of the season, Louth hanging on to finish 153 for eight after Grimsby had reached 215 for eight. Gihan Perera hit 73 before badly injuring his ankle in his last match before returning to Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
Sleaford skipper Oliver Burford snatched the wicketkeeping title from Jason Scheepers, snaffling four catches in his side’s victory over Bourne to take his total to 29, one ahead of his Bracebridge rival while Bourne’s Fahad Masood topped the bowling with 62 wickets despite missing his last two matches through injury.

RESULTS
Market Deeping 203 (Peacock 74, Kirkham 5-52), Skegness 167 (Epton 57); Grimsby 215-8 (Perera 73 ret hurt), Louth 153-8 (Osmond 56, Tillison 7-40 inc four in four balls);
Bourne 140, Sleaford 144-1 (Shorthouse 67no); Hartsholme 208-9 (Shooter 60, Bell 51), Nettleham 209-5 (Nel 100no); Bracebridge Heath 192 (Khoza 77, Morley-Barnes 5-42), Lindum 193-6 (Hornsby 93no); Boston 194-8 (Timby 54, Sergeant 55), Woodhall Spa 141 (Wilson 6-41).

FINAL TABLE

Team P W L Draw/Tie NR Bat Bowl Win Draw Total Percent
Bourne 22 12 5 1 4 69 75 120 9 273 75.83%
Sleaford 22 11 5 1 5 62 71 110 1 244 71.76%
Lindum 22 9 7 2 4 65 67 90 14 236 65.56%
Skegness 22 12 7 0 3 54 73 120 0 247 65.00%
Bracebridge Heath 22 9 7 0 6 53 62 90 0 205 64.06%
Market Deeping 22 8 6 3 5 58 56 80 15 209 61.47%
Nettleham 22 7 6 4 5 58 51 70 26 205 60.29%
Grimsby 22 3 8 8 3 70 60 30 50 210 55.26%
Louth 22 5 7 5 5 44 57 50 15 166 48.82%
Boston 22 6 10 1 5 39 63 60 3 165 48.53%

Woodhall Spa 22 5 10 3 4 53 48 50 13 164 45.56%
Hartsholme 22 2 11 4 5 46 54 20 14 134 39.41%