The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A superb unbeaten century from Sam Smith set up a comfortable Pinchbeck victory over Timberlands in South Lincs and Border League Division Two.
Pinchbeck set their opponents a stiff target of 197 for victory, thanks hugely to Smith’s brilliant 111, before bowling out the visitors for 111.
With opener Danny Jackson dismissed off the second ball, Smith arrived at the crease early and batted with excellent composure for the first half of the innings.
Timberlands bowlers Gilbert (2 for 15) and Askin (2 for 48) picked up wickets to halt the home side’s progress and at 85 for 5, the game seemed well balanced.
But in partnership with skipper James Langford, Smith injected some acceleration into the innings and the pair gave the hosts the upper hand with a sixth wicket stand of 84 scored at a run a ball.
The pair sensibly ticked the board over and pushed the total towards 200.
After Langford was dismissed for a breezy 32, Pinchbeck’s tail struggled to stick around as Blankley (3 for 23) hit back for the visitors but not before Smith completed his fourth ton for Pinchbeck which included 15 fours and a six. The innings closed on 196 for 9.
An excellent spell from Andrew Beeston (3 for 20) yielded some early wickets in Timberlands’ reply and didn’t allow any of their top order to settle in.
From there they struggled to impose themselves on the total required as Pinchbeck continued to chip away.
Smith added to his run tally with three wickets and ably backed up by the tidy Alex Watkins (1 for 12 off 8 overs) plus a brace for Langford, the hosts managed to wrap up victory in good time.
Pinchbeck round off their season with a home fixture against Burgh on Saturday.
