Firsts Stay Fourth

Woodhall Spa will sit in fourth place in the Lincs ECB Premier League at the halfway stage after a heavy 54 run defeat away at Lincoln Lindum.

The young Spa side weren’t quite at their best as the hosts, bottom at the start of the day but a better side than that, welcomed back some of their senior and best players and put the Spa under pressure from the first ball of the afternoon after winning the toss and electing to bat first.

It wasn’t that the Spa bowling attack bowled badly but had very little luck in the early stages and as the innings progressed the ground fielding from Jack Luffman’s men left a lot to be desired as the home side’s excellent running between the wickets forced too many errors. However, it must be said the Spa side stuck to their task admirably and had pulled the run rate back somewhat when Lindum finished its innings on exactly 250. Spa had taken seven wickets thanks to Prasanna Jayawardena (3-37); Ross Dixon (1-29), Alfie Lindsey (1-33) and Harsha Vithana (1-52), who also executed a fine run out.

The Spa’s run chase got off to the worst possible start as Henry Wilson fell first ball of the innings and Vithana soon followed but from 13-2 a 105 run partnership between Ollie Caswell and Jayawardena ensued. Both were in good touch and had created a solid base for a push for victory. However, the home side dug deep and when they both fell for 37 and 75 respectively in quick succession the Spa slumped from 130-4 to 196 all out as only Joe Irving with 33 had looked like taking his side home to victory. The Spa will look to bounce back away at Boston on Saturday.

At home the 2ndXI took on high flying Skegness in the South Lincs and Border Premier League in what turned out to be a high scoring affair on another belting Jubilee Park track.

Unfortunately Matthew Sargeant’s men fell 36 runs short of chasing the visitors’ monster 282-8 set earlier in the afternoon; an innings based around a superb 151 from opener Houghton. The Spa bowlers worked hard all afternoon on an unforgiving surface and rapid outfield with Matthew Haslam (4-65) again the pick while James White and Tom Dixon picked up two wickets apiece.

In reply, the whole batting order contributed to the final all out score of 246. The top four of Dixon (37), Sargeant (37), Sam Cherry (43) and Alex Hodson (41) all made good starts and White’s run-a-ball 24 kept Spa in the hunt but it wasn’t to be on this occasion.

On Sunday, the Wanderers 2ndXI played out a last ball thriller in Division One of the Lincoln and District League as Scothern scraped home by two wickets chasing 180 for victory.

It was a valiant effort from the young home side, led by Henry Wilson, as batting first they were in serious trouble at 19-5 and then 50-6. However, all-rounder James White stood up to the visiting attack and played his best innings for the club to date. He shared a super partnership with 15-year-old Thomas Ashford, who contributed 21 including a huge maximum, and then another one with last man Dewi Bourke to ensure his side had a total to bowl at. White would finish unbeaten on 88.

Wilson shared the bowling around and took on the responsibility of bowling the last over himself but the visitors managed to scramble a single off the final ball to claim the victory.

PJ took 3-37 and scored 75 in the 1stXI's defeat to Lindum on Saturday.