The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Spalding Town slipped into the bottom three of the Lincs ECB Premier Division after suffering a 53-run defeat at Woodhall Spa on Saturday.
On a day when rain saw the game reduced to 28 overs per side, Town captain Chris Dring won the toss and put the hosts into bat at Jubilee Park.
Spa smacked 156-7 from their allotted overs as Tom Caswell top scored with 28 before being forced to retire.
Josh Lawrence managed 38 in reply for Spalding, but they fell short of the required rate and were bowled out for 103 in the 25th over.
That left Town with just seven match points to their name, while Woodhall claimed a maximum haul of 20 to move into the top five.
Spalding grabbed an early wicket in their bid to stifle Spa, with Nilantha Atapattu (2-28) pinning opener Will Wright LBW for five.
Oliver Caswell (21) and Gareth Grant (20) then came together to take the score to 45 before Atapattu struck again to clean bowl the former.
That brought Sri Lankan ace Prasanna Jaywardene to the crease and he cracked 21 from 19 balls before Lawrence (1-20) had him caught behind with the score 74-3.
Mitch Freeman (1-20) then struck soon after to trap Grant LBW and leave Woodhall wobbling at 79-4.
Next to go was Alex Hodson (4) as Freeman ran him out, but Ross Dixon (13) joined Caswell and the pair moved the hosts towards a solid total.
Brandon Andrews (2-21) broke that stand with two wickets in as many balls as he bowled Dixon and repeated the trick to get Nick Bennett for a golden duck.
With Caswell having to depart hurt, Alex King (14 not out) and Tom White (11 not out) enjoyed themselves at the end of the innings to take Spa to a solid-looking 156.
Fireworks weren’t needed in Town’s reply, but they knew they’d need solid partnerships to chase their target down.
Their hopes took a hit early on, though, with both openers out cheaply.
Ollie Dring (7) fell to Jayawardene (1-29), while Freeman (9) was snared by Alex King (3-16) to leave Spalding in a tough spot at 24-2.
The aggresive Lawrence and usual opener Jon Manton (9) then steadied the ship with a stand of 40 for the third wicket.
However, four quick wickets then put the skids on Spalding’s run chase.
Manton went first after being caght off the bowling of Bennett (1-15), then King ended the exploits of Lawrence – who hit four boundaries in his 34-ball stay – by shattering his stumps.
Ethan Lawrence went the same way as King bowled him for a four-ball duck, then Dixon castled Dring (10) as Spalding went from 64-2 to 81-6 in double quick time.
The wickets continued to tumble, with Ben Smith (2), Andrews (0) and Harry Birch (1) all gone cheaply before Town had even reached three figures.
Atapattu (15) ensured Town at least reached that figure, but he was the last man out when Tom White (3-4) struck.
Next up for Spalding is a home game against high-flying Grantham at Seas End Hall on Saturday (11.30pm).
