Luddington relinquished top spot in the Amazing Smile North Lindsey League Division Two table following their 12 runs defeat at the hands of Isle rivals Haxey who gained revenge for the defeat they had suffered in the league game on May 26th and it was Haxey skipper Oliver Tonks , back from university , who proved to be the match winner with an exceptional innings of 93 not out throughout the entire Haxey innings.
Haxey won the toss and chose to bat first with Tonks and Joe Coggan opening the innings. Ludd , missing Matthew Mellers through work committments , the man who had proved a thorn in Haxey's side a week earlier , picked up their first wicket when Coggan was trapped LBW by Jamie Arrowsmith for seven with the total at 17 which brought 14 year old Tom Smith to the crease , a young man who is in a rich vein of form with a couple of half centuries to his name and along with the classy Tonks he took the total to 64 before miscuing a shot to Joe Woolhouse off Graham Clark having made 18. Graham Skelton was the next cab off the rank and for a while he and his skipper threatened to take the game away from their hosts. However skipper Gareth Parkin opted to take pace off the ball by introducing spin twins Arron Curry and Darren Clark and they did the trick by stemming the flow of runs. Some of the Luddington fielding was at best sloppy but just after Haxey had brought up three figures and Tonks his half century his parnet Skelton was superbly caught at slip by a diving Jamie Arrowsmith off Curry for 18 leaving the scorer at 102 for 3. Hugh Maw joined Tonks and they kept the scoreboard ticking although to their credit Ludd were much more in control as they put the squeeze on. Maw had reached nine when he was caught one handed by the lightening quick Curry to give Darren Clark a wicket but that man Tonks remaind stoic at the other end. It looked at one stage that he might just make it to what would have been a deserved ton but the overs ran out , leaving him on 93 not out with South African Josh Savage on seven at the other end as Haxey closed on 157 for 4 , all four Luddington bowlers picking up one wicket each. It was nice to see Micky Wills back on a cricket field with his keepers gloves on after a long lay off. The ex Belton , Haxey and Outcasts custodian slotted back into his old role as if he had never been away.
Luddington's reply got off to a sticky start when Darren Clark was bowled by Ethen Tonks for just three with the total on 12 and his brother Graham soon followed in the same manner , bowled by the rapid Tonks for five. Skipper Gareth Parkin joined opener Joe Woolhouse , who was looking in good form and they took the score up to 64 before Woolhouse was caught by Tom Smith off Luke Allen for an impressive 37 then Haxey took control of the game as Ludd lost a further three quick wickets , Parkin being caught behind by Joe Coggan off Graham Skelton for 16 , Andy Lawson bowled by Allen Rick Green suffered the same fate which left with a mountain to climb at 70 for 6. Jamie Arrowsmith had made five only to then be bowled by young spinner Hugh Maw and when Steve Proctor was also bowled , by the experienced Mark Atkins with the total at 86 for 8 all seemed lost for the home side. However there was to be a sting in the tail as Danny Taylor and Arron Curry injected new impetous to the innings with some exceptional running between the wickets that put the Haxey fielders under pressure. They raced the total into three figures and were really getting some momentum when on 20 Taylor was caught by Coggan off Ethan Tonks who had been brought back into the attack which left Ludd needing a further 48 from their last pair to pull off an unlikely victory. Arron Curry and the returning old stager Micky Wills continued to bat and run aggressively , Wills benefiting from his football refereeing stamina to just about keep up with the whippet like pace of Curry and the required runs kept tumbling , but always appeared tantalisingly beyond them. They managed to go into the final two overs within seventeen runs of their target but Ethan Tonks then stepped up to the plate , bowling the 39th over for just two runs which meant Ludd needed fifteen from what was to be Mark Atkins final over of the match. His experience shone through and Ludd's valient chase came to an end when Curry was stumped off the very last delivery having made an impressive 27 leaving Wills on 17 not out and the team 12 short in what turned out to be a terrific match umpired well by Jack Bowers and Will McVey and played in a good spirit throughout.
So it was a first league defeat of the season for Ludd despite their battling qualities but it has to be said that Oliver Tonks was a class apart in this game and deserved to be on the winning team. Next up for Luddington is another Isle derby against Outcasts whilst Haxey travel to Barton looking to follow up this win with another good performance.
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