Moulton Harrox were crowned champions of the South Lincs and Border League East One Division on Saturday – but only after Long Sutton defeated Spalding Town.
In a frantic end to the shortened season, all three South Holland sides were involved in the title mix.
Sutton won the toss and opted to bat first, but Town would have been the happier side after bowling them out for 140 in 37.2 overs.
However, Spalding – who knew that a win would clinch them the crown at Moulton’s expense – were knocked over for 114 in reply, some 26 runs shy of their target.
Barry Stanway was the star of the Sutton innings, cracking three sixes and five fours in his score of 51 from 58 balls.
Josh Baker (20), Chris Booth (16) and Adam Whitaker (10) were the only other players to make double figures, with Town’s Nilantha Atapattu (3-23), Brandon Andrews (3-41), Will Naylor (2-32), Josh Lawrence (1-36) and Harry DeCamps (1-4) all bowling well.
The Town reply started well, with Ollie Dring (36), Jon Manton (13) and Ethan Lawrence (12) scoring well at the top of the order.
Chris Dring (13) and Andrew (17 not out) also helped out, but Rob Simpson (3-29), Jake Burton (3-17), skipper Dan Oldfield (1-23) and Baker (1-25) chipped away and ultimately bowled the visitors out.
That left Moulton champions by five points, with Sutton sealing second and Spalding third, three points further back.
All three sides won four of their six games, losing once each and having one game abandoned each.
- Spalding 2nd got a measure of revenge as they defeated Long Sutton 2nd by 54 runs in SLB East Two on Sunday.
Batting first, Ollie Dring (71) and Mohammad Alam (57 not out) hit half-centuries as Town posted 227-6 at Paradise Field. Emmy Gittins (4-54) was the pick of the Sutton bowlers.
They reached 173-7 in reply, with Charlie Crisp (38) top scoring.
In the same division, Moulton 2nd (102-8) beat Skegness (101) by eight wickets to claim 20 points and finish in third place.
