A season’s best score of 69 not out from captain Josh Baker was not quite enough for Long Sutton to secure victory at Grantham in the South Lincs Border League Championship.
After losing the toss, Sutton were asked to bat and limped to 71/6 with only Tim Norris (26) offering any resistance.
That opened the door for a captain’s innings from Baker and he was joined at the crease by Barry Stanway (54) to add another 112 runs, enabling Sutton to post a defendable 206/7 from their 40 overs.
Baker then caught opener and home captain Stewart Mudie early in the home innings but a combined total of 126 from opener Jared Hackney (56) and number three Michael Greaves (70) turned the match against Sutton.
Five of the visitors’ seven bowlers enjoyed success as wickets fell regularly but a stubborn unbeaten 46 from Toby Cullen proved match-winning as he led his team to 210/7 with four balls to spare.
The second team had a tough day at Freiston, Leake & Leverton in Division One, losing by nine wickets.
Jack Smith (15), Steve Norris (13), Callum John (12) and Luke Barnes (11) all reached double figures to propel the away side to 61/4 but they could not recover from a middle/late-order collapse that saw five wickets fall for the addition of just one run.
Four players went for ducks as Sutton were bowled out for 70 in the 23rd over.
Opener Usman Ahmed made light work of the response, slamming three sixes and eight fours on his way to an unbeaten 58 in his team’s winning 11-over score of 74/1.
