LUDD OPEN THEIR ACCOUNT

By Glen Sands

Luddington were made to battle hard for their first win of the 2011 season by a valiant Hensall side last Thursday in the Snaith and District Evening League, the Isle side squeezing home by 4 wickets with three overs to go.
Hensall won the toss and chose to bat first and quickly found themselves one down when opener Barker was caught by Darren Clark behind the stumps off Jonathan Wroot with the total on just seven. Geoff Thornton was next to go caught smartly at slip by home skipper Andy Lawson for two , again off the bowling of Wroot and things got even worse for the visitors when Tom Wright was caught by Darren Clark off Scott Buttrick for one leaving them struggling on 14 for 3. Opener Ian Calvert and his son James then pieced together a spledid partnership , albeit a rather slow scoring rate , taking the score to 51 before Ian was run out for 31 via a direct hit from Graham Clark and Liam Waterworth hit a solitary boundary before he was fifth out superbly caught on the run by Graham Clark to earn Graeme Fletcher a deserved wicket. Gareth Parkin ran James Robinson out without him having troubled the scorers then James Calvert was became Darren Clark's third victim having made 23 , this time the catch giving brother Graham a wicket. The innings ended on 74 for 7 with all the Luddington bowlers contributing well.
On the face of it a total of 75 from 18 overs should have been comfortable for Luddington to chase down but to their credit Hensall bowled and fielded exceptionally well with one glaring exception. Jamie Belton held the home sides innings together with an unbeaten 41 but had a touch of fortune when being dropped early in his time at the crease which proved to be a bad miss for the visitors. Darren Clark had reached ten when he was caught by Matt Wright off Tom Wright then brother Graham was bowled by Wright for four leaving Ludd on 36 for 2. Russell Fletcher ( 3 ) and Andy Lawson ( 4 ) went in the same Matt Wright over as Luddington wobbled and when Scott Buttrick was caught by Robinson off James Calvert for five they were still eleven runs shy of their target. Danny Taylor cracked one terrific boundary before being bowled by young Calvert but Jamie Belton stood firm to hit the winning runs in the fifteenth over , earning Luddington their first three points haul of the season
So Luddington will travel to Goole on Thursday happy to have picked up their first win whilst Hensall can certainly take lots of positives from their performance despite hteir loss. They have a crop of very promising youngsters who will undoubtedly serve them well in the future.