Spalding Town’s perfect 10 ensured they kept pace with the top three in the South Lincs and Border League, but an agonising one-run defeat hindered Long Sutton’s title chances.
It’s 10 wins in a row for Spalding who held their nerve to claim a four wicket win against Market Deeping 2nds.
They chased down Deeping’s 256 for 5 with seven balls to spare, largely thanks to big knocks of 103 not out from Nilantha Atapattu and 50 from Ben Smith.
A fine 27 not out from Matt Gill at the end saw Spalding to victory with 13 balls to spare and marking a fine recovery after losing early wickets.
Atapattu had earlier taken 2-65 including the important wickets of Chris Jones (95) and Matthew Mills (44) but Ross Barnes (50 not out) had helped Deeping up 256-5.
Spalding’s win keeps them second in the table as all of the top three, including Skegness Town and Sleaford, picked up wins.
Town are 10 points behind leaders Sleaford and 11 ahead of Skegness.
Long Sutton dropped to fifth and are now 43 points off the top after their agonising loss to Freiston on the last ball.
They were chasing the 247-8 set by the home side of which a large chunk was scored by Usman Ahmed.
He finished 115 not out having hit 13 fours and three sixes after coming in at five.
Sutton’s bowlers were a threat throughout with Dan Oldfield (3-35) the stand out while Josh Baker (2-86), Barry Stanway (1-27), Adam Whitaker (1-33) and Charlie Crisp (1-30) chipped in.
After the early loss of Peter Cook for a duck, Sutton’s Adam Wright (68) and Dan Oldfield (28) put on 80 for the second wicket to set Sutton on their way.
Important knocks from Josh Baker (36) and Barry Stanway (49) kept them in the hunt as Sutton reached 202-5 became 204-7 then 233-9 as Freiston closed in on the win.
Adam Whitaker’s 21 not out gave them hope however and took the game to the last ball.
From that though Oliver Taylor was ran out going for the tying run leaving Sutton to claim just nine points.
Also in Division One a fine 98 from just 96 balls by Josh Newton couldn’t stop Moulton Harrox from falling to a 47 run defeat to Skegness Town.
They were chasing the visitors’ 268-7 which was sparked by Jamie Epton’s 116 not out and included a partnership of 126 with Norman Brackley (64 from 50 balls).
Chris Beale was the star with the ball claiming 3-63, Henry Lavery took 2-24, Stephen Coles 1-55 and Lewis Martin 1-58.
In the reply Newton came in with Moulton 13-2 but gave his side hope with partnerships of 45 with Chris Beale (28) and 64 with Matthew Rose (15).
Newton was caught and bowled two short of his century with Moulton on 175 the first of three wickets for two runs that ended their chances.
Despite a counter from number 10 Stephen Coles (27 not out from 21) they were all out for 221 with five balls of the innings left.
In Division One Harrox’s 2nds were also defeated on Saturday after being bowled out for 61 by Boston 3rds.
Mark Ramsden (13) and number nine Adam Newell (18 not out) were the only batsmen to reach double figures.
Despite two wickets apiece for Steve French (2-22) and Harry Lovell (2-24) it was a total Boston took just 16 overs to knock off for the six wicket win.
While the likes of Spalding 2nd and 3rd were without a game, it was a double weekend for Long Sutton’s 2nd XI in Division Two.
It began with a defeat at home to league leaders Uffington on Saturday after the home side hit 201 all out batting first.
Ed Munson bowled well as his 12 overs yielded 3-34 and Joe Whitaker (3-38), Milly Hastings (2-26) and Steven Milnes (1-32) were among the wickets.
In the reply Munson (28), Andrew Wright (22) and Jack Smith (29) were among those to make starts but not take it on as Sutton were bowled out for 141, 60 runs short with nearly 15 overs still in hand.
Sutton bounced back impressively on the Sunday by hammering Freiston 2nds by 130 runs.
Munson’s fine 62 was ably assisted by 43 from Daniel Plant as the visitors recovered from 52-4 with a big partnership of 130.
That proved to be more than enough as Freiston crawled to 67 all out in the 30th over.
Whitaker’s 3-7 came from six overs, Plant 14-3 from five and Munson 2-18 from nine.
The emphatic win was rounded off by Steven Milnes (1-23) and Jack Smith (1-0).
p Fixtures: South Lincs and Border League (Saturday, 1pm): Premier Division – Belton v Long Sutton, Moulton Harrox v Grantham 2nd, Spalding Town v Boston 2nd. D1 – Orton 2nd v Moulton Harrox 2nd. D2 – Spalding 3rd v Bilborough 2nd.
