The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Spalding Town made it two wins from as many games in the South Lincs and Border League Premier Division with a narrow one-wicket victory at Belton Park on Saturday.
Defending champions Town impressed with the ball after skipper Jonathan Miles won the toss and elected to field, bowling their hosts out for 164.
But they were made to work hard for their 20 points, with a key 71 from opener Joseph Broomfield guiding them to 165-9 in 45.1 overs.
The victory means Spalding have a maximum total of 40 points from their opening fixtures, with a trip to Sleaford 2nd next on Saturday (1pm).
Hosts Belton struggled early on in their innings, with Town seamer Brandon Andrews (4-53) getting rid of both openers Richard Cocks (10) and Damian Eite (4) relatively cheaply.
Harry Brewin and skipper Dan Reynolds attempted to steady the ship, but Julian Wilson (2-37) snared both of them for 15 to leave Park struggling.
The fightback came from the middle order, with Matt Law (34), William Helliwell (21) and Alex Cavan (28) all scoring well, but skipper Miles (4-35) came into the attack and impressed.
He removed Law and Helliwell, before Andrews came back to bowl Cavan.
The tail end failed to wag, with Miles adding two more wickets to his tally and Andrews ending the innings with the dismissal of Luke Pollard (6) in the 43rd over.
Town’s reply also got off to a rocky start, with Jon Manton bowled by the impressive Law (5-51) for a duck and Newton – scorer of a century the previous week – trapped LBW by the same man for a duck.
Amazingly, Law also had the dangerous Miles caught and bowled for 13 and removed Ethan Lawrence (1), leaving Town in a spot of bother.
Luckily for Town, Broomfield was in no mood to give up his wicket cheaply.
He passed 50 and edged his side towards their target, albeit with wickets continuing to fall around him.
Rob Ambrose (12) and Peter Cook (14) came and went, as did Jon Garner (8) and Andrews (0) before Broomfield was eventually bowled by Rohan Perera (2-30) for an excellent 71.
That left the bowlers to get Spalding over the line, with Josh Lawrence (7 not out holding his nerve) alongside Wilson (0 not out) seeing them to their target in the 46th over of the tightest of tussles.
Town will hope to carry on their winning ways at Sleaford 2nd, who have suffered defeats in both of their league fixtures so far this season.
