Spalding are celebrating a second win on the bounce. A low-scoring encounter saw them beat Burghley Park by 23 runs to inch further away from the bottom two places in the Lincolnshire Board Premier League.
Ollie Dring won the toss and elected to bat, opening himself and putting on 20 for the first wicket with Harsh Bhandari (24).
The visitors’ attack continued to earn success and things looked grim for Spalding at 69/5 when Chris Dring entered the crease. He soon lost Jon Manton, run out for five on 73/6, with Walter Kinlock following for the addition of only one more run and Nilantha Atapattu soon on his way at 78/8.
However, Dring preserved his wicket and hit six fours on his way to what proved to be a match-winning 31 before being last man out with the score on 115 in the 39th over.
Atapattu ensured Spalding were in the ascendency from the start of the Burghley innings, claiming his first wicket with only three runs on the scoreboard, on his way to 4-26 from his ten overs.
Wickets fell rapidly with captain Dring weighing in with 5-29 as the visitors slipped to 78/9. A late rally from Gareth Hook (16no) did raise home concerns but, despite adding another 14 for the last wicket, he was left on his own when Stuart Biggs fell to Dring for seven in the 26th over.
In Division Two of the South Lincs Border League Spalding fell short of their 263/6 target at Grantham Thirds to lose by 62 runs.
The hosts made a strong start, despite Thomas Decamps (2-42) removing opener Sean Nel for only three. Oliver Parr (64), Jason Parr (62) and Jared Jno-Baptiste (86no) picked up the gauntlet to move them from 18/1 to 201/2 on their way to a 45-over total of 263/6. Lily Spridgen (2-58) also took two wickets, with one apiece for Phil Lewis and Josh White.
Wickets fell regularly in Spalding’s reply, despite the efforts of Lewis (21) and Neo Timothy (19), as they crawled to 121/8. However, the arrival of Josh White (33) at the crease to join Jack Sawyer (55no) saw the score surge as the pair put on 72.
Unfortunately, that was not enough but Spalding did at least have the satisfaction of making the hosts bowl all of their 45 overs in their innings of 201 all out.
