Robbins’ top ton leaves Spalding Town feeling red-faced in heavy defeat against Lindum

Spalding Town 1st suffered their heaviest defeat of the Lincs ECB Premier League season so far on Saturday as Lincoln Lindum romped to a 253-run success at Seas End Hall.

Having lost the toss, visitors Lindum opted to bat first and duly posted a dominant score of 294-4 from their 50 overs as Gus Robbins scored an unbeaten 109 from just 76 balls.

Town then collapsed to 41 all out in their reply, with nobody making double figures in their 22.3 over innings – meaning they only collected a single point from the match.

Having secured their first win of the season the previous week, confidence was high within the Spalding camp ahead of their fourth fixture.

Given the ball first, the hosts nagged away early on and finally got their first wicket when William Wright (25) was run out by Ben Smith with the score on 35.

Aussie all-rounder Mitch Freeman (1-29) then bowled Tom Poole for 15, but Pranv Pothula and Robert Cook moved the score into three figures with some steady play.

Pothula’s 47-ball 24 was eventually ended by Harry Birch (1-28), who had him caught by Ethan Lawrence with the score on 103.

Then came the partnership of the match, as Cook and Robbins put on a massive 171 for the fourth wicket.

Lindum captain Cook was solid with seven fours coming in his 102-ball 79, allowing Robbins to feast on the Town attack.

He plundered 12 fours and two sixes as he scored at a rapid rate of 143.42 en-route to a brilliant century.

Brandon Andrews (1-51) finally had Cook caught by Smith, but the visitors were on 274-4 and already in command.

A late flurry from Will Taylor (ten from four balls) then saw Lindum end their innings just six runs shy of 300.

After a tough stint in the field, Spalding were always up against it in reply.

They lost both openers cheaply, with Jon Manton (2) bowled by Joe Peatman (1-8) and Freeman (8) done by Wright (3-17) to leave them on 14-2.

Wright then struck twice more while the score was on 28, first trapping Josh Lawrence LBW for six before repeating the trick to remove Nilantha Atapattu for a first-ball duck.

Ethan Lawrence (9) was run out by Andy Harris one run later, before another quick double saw Ben Smith (1) caught LBW by Harris (3-5) and Joseph Broomfield (4) removed by Jake Benson (2-10) to leave Town in big trouble on 34-7.

Matt Gill (5) was next to go as Harris had him LBW too, while skipper Chris Dring – batting down the order – was castled by the same bowler. for a two-ball duck.

Last man out Brandon Andrews (1) was stumped off the bowling of Benson to seal Spalding’s heavy defeat and ensure Lindum secured all 20 points.

Next up for Town is a trip to Bracebridge Heath on Saturday (11.30am).

Often title hopefuls over the years, Bracebridge have lost all four of their games so far this season and sit ninth, level on points with tenth-placed Spalding.