The Lincolnshire County Board Premier League season reaches its halfway point this Saturday and it should see one of our two teams finally have something to celebrate.
Spalding and Long Sutton are still looking for a win but, weather permitting, one will finally taste glory at Paradise Field when the two go head-to-head.
Ten games into the campaign and the bottom three teams are starting to be cast adrift. Third-bottom Grimsby Town are 28 points behind Nettleham but ten ahead of Spalding, who lead Sutton by another five.
Spalding are keen to continue building for the future and gave debuts to two youngsters who have progressed through the club ranks.
Batting first, a 40-run third-wicket stand between Yuvraj Ranaut (23) and Keyan Gace (23) gave them something to build on, with Chris Dring boosting the tally with a late-order six and four 4s on his way to a rapid 47. He was last man out after taking the score from 104/6 to 166 all out.
Despite removing four of the Lindum top order for an aggregate of ten runs, opener Will Wright stood firm and, with an unbeaten 106, shared a winning unbroken stand of 108 with Tom Lane (24no).
Nilantha Atapattu was the pick of the home bowlers with 2-37 with a wicket each for Brandon Andrews and Gace.
Long Sutton made a solid start at Nettleham and looked set for a winning total. Nathan Oliver (108) and Calvin Bird (44) made 104 for the first wicket, with Oliver and Davico Kruger (22) adding another 60 for the second.
Daniel Oldfield (24) and Jacob Gray (24no) kept the runs flowing in the middle order as they set a challenging 294/8 from their 50 overs.
Unfortunately, Nettleham were also in run-grabbing form with opener Awais Zafar (183no) and Ravi Yarwood-Paintal (62) sharing a 173-run second wicket stand on their way to 296/4 in the 41st over. Uddyan Hansana was the pick of the visiting attack with 2-61 from ten overs.
