By Match reports: Three Cleethorpes Cricket Club sides record victories
Three of the four Cleethorpes Cricket Club sides in action came out on top in their fixtures at the weekend.
The first, third and East Lindsey teams all recorded wins on another hot weekend, while the seconds suffered a defeat in their game.
Cleethorpes firsts found themselves in another nail-biting close finish on Saturday, as they somehow managed to claw back a result against Elsecar to claim a victory by one run.
A run-fest was expected in the sunshine, but the pitch looked tricky from the outset. Cleethorpes looked well set at 66-1 at the first drinks break before they continued to lose wickets – including Tom Keast (50) – at regular intervals and found themselves at 131-8.
A superb 52 from Mayank Mishra – combined with some later-order resistance – enabled his side to get to 167 to give them a total to bowl at.
Cleethorpes got off to a great start in reply, reducing the opponents to 13-3 with Josh Knapton striking twice and Tom Morris also getting a wicket. A good partnership, including 70 from Taruwar Kohli, left Elsecar at 120-4 with 15 overs to spare.
Two wickets in two balls from Mishra, which was very much deserved after a long spell, opened the door for the Meggies. After some tight bowling by both Jordan Cook and Matthew Owen, it came down to six needed from the final over.
A wicket left the opponents nine down, meaning four runs were needed off the last ball, with Owen holding his nerve to secure the 12 points for his side.
Cleethorpes seconds slipped to an eight-wicket defeat at the hands of Louth firsts on Saturday, where they won the toss and elected to bat in the heat on a fast, bouncy pitch at London Road.
The visitors’ top order stuttered early on, with Paul Ridley, Joe Sands and Kris Hall all falling with the score 15-3 after 12 overs. The wickets brought the Carlton Brothers – Eddie and George – together and, for the second week running, they added more than 100 runs for the fourth wicket.
The pair made 122 in 19.4 overs, with both batsmen punishing the bad ball and finding the boundary regularly. With both easing past 50 and the score on 137 in the 31st over, older brother G Carlton (51) fell to spinner Laurence Scott.
John Mansfield (21) and Callum Robinson (14) both added valuable contributions and ensured the scoreboard kept moving. But with E Carlton starved of the strike and seven men on the boundary, Cleethorpes were unable to push the accelerator.
Further wickets fell and E Carlton (95 off 105 balls) was eventually run out with four balls remaining in the final over, leaving the Meggies 217 all out.
Louth started their reply slowly, with both Hall and the returning William Clifford bowling tight opening spells. With the heat showing, Cleethorpes’ skipper E Carlton changed the bowling regularly, as Andrew Severn and Jack Holmes replaced the openers.
Severn eventually made the first breakthrough with the score at 69 to remove Max Cartledge (18). Scott passed his half-century after surviving a huge appeal for caught behind early, but the visitors remained in the tie to keep the runs down and fielding well.
Robinson and Arifkhan Waklizai joined the attack and the latter made the vital breakthrough, picking up the wicket of overseas batsman Josh O’Donohue (20). A couple of loose overs and a number of extras put Louth ahead of the rate, with skipper Jason Collinson (43* off 30 balls) taking the game away from Cleethorpes.
Scott hit the winning boundary with six overs to spare, bringing up his unbeaten 102 from 150 balls.
Cleethorpes thirds stretched their lead at the top of the league to 15 points after an emphatic victory at third-placed Holton Le Clay seconds.
Holton won the toss and elected to bat first in glorious sunshine but on a very dry wicket. Hanzullah Niazi and Si Taylor opened the bowling and it was clear to see early on that it was a difficult wicket to bat on, as time and again both bowlers continued to beat the bat.
Taylor removed the dangerous Steve Wright, who was caught well at first slip by Rob Cowlam. Hanzullah clean-bowled the next two to finish his seven overs on two for 18, while Taylor continued and finished with five for 22.
Will Hollamby bowled a tidy spell for two for 15 in his four overs and Max Chapman finished it off with one for eight to limit Holton to just 66.
Young Akbar Amadzai opened the innings with the experienced Stu Wood and immediately set about the attack. It only took 12 overs to reach the total, as Akbar smashed 41 in 27 balls, supported by Wood hitting 18 to claim the 20 points for Cleethorpes.
The Cleethorpes East Lindsey side kept up their winning ways at the top of the league, recording a 92-run win against Clee Town Laportes at Chichester Road on Sunday.
The game saw the debut of 12-year-old Rowan Smith, who batted superbly at number four to hit 69 runs. Other Meggies’ batsmen Joe Sands (24), Arifkhan Waklizai (20), Stuart Wood (26), Sam Middleditch (18) and Andrew Severn (19) were also in decent form to set Clee Town a target of 211 for victory.
Tight early bowling from Cook and Naizi restricted the rate before Severn broke the opening stand of 46 by removing the dangerous Paul Morgan.
The young debutant Smith then proved age was no barrier, as he claimed a superb four wickets and conceded just 11 runs from his five overs. Clee Town were dismissed for 118 to hand the Meggies all 20 points.
