GRIMSBY TOWN v CAISTOR - GRIMSBY KNOCKOUT

Rob Cook receiving his man of the match award from Grimsby Town's  Pete Wood.

BY ANN BOULTON 

The final first round match of the Grimsby Town Knock Out saw the hosts and trophy holders take the field against Caistor in defence of their title.

But when the first three Grimsby wickets went down for only 11 runs, hopes of a third successive title appeared to be dwindling rapidly.

Caistor won the toss and, having invited their opponents to bat, skipper Liam Wood led from the front, taking the wicket of his Grimsby counterpart Jim Morgan in his first over.

Wood also bowled Steve Crossley and had Ross Carnelly caught by Nathan Davis.  Caistor’s fielding was marked by good catching with Davis taking a second off Wood to dismiss Joel Hamilton with the score on 24.

Guest player Rob Cook, formerly with Nettleham before moving away from the area, then joined forces with Neal Snell to steady the innings and the score had more than doubled before Andy Pearson took a catch off Harry Capstick to dismiss Cook for 20.

Snell was next to go, Harry Boulton taking an excellent high catch off Capstick but the lower order dug in and the crowd were treated to some big hitting by Brendan Volley and Lee Charlton who made 24 and 18 respectively to help the score to 120 for nine at the close, Wood finishing with four for 23 off his four overs and Capstick with four for 39 while Kieran Brooker bowled an economical four overs for only 16 runs.

Caistor went out to chase what looked like an achievable target but found themselves in the same position as Grimsby, losing two wickets for seven runs, the first to Joel Hamilton and the second a run out.

Snell and Charlton made it 17 for four but Pearson and Peter Jacob dug in, taking Caistor to 35 before Pearson fell to Cook who went on to take three more wickets.  This made it 56 for eight and despite the efforts of Capstick and Tim Brown, who took the innings into the last over, Caistor could only manage 70 before Hamilton took the final wicket.

This game was sponsored by Portlock Painting Services and the overall competition by Great Coates Motors and Grimsby Van Centre.  Cook was named man of the match for his 20 runs, four wickets and one catch.

In a change to the order of the semi-finals, Grimsby will now play Lincolnshire Cavaliers on Monday July 1 while Louth take on Cleethorpes on July 8 with the final taking place on July 15.