Spalding Town 2nd edged out Long Sutton by just one run in a thrilling South Lincs and Border League Premier Division derby at the Memorial Field on Saturday.
Skipper Phil Barnes made 66 as Sutton posted 175-7 batting first, only for Chris Dring’s 79 to inspire Town to a nervy 176-9 in reply.
Hosts Spalding won the toss and decided to bowl first on what looked like a very good track.
Sutton made a steady start, but Steve Norris (1-23) soon made the breakthrough removing the in-form Jimmy Wright for 17.
This bought Adam Wright to the crease – and after being dropped on 0 he soon started to find the middle of the bat. The number three hit seven boundaries in his almost run-a-ball 31 as he looked to up the rate.
Barnes continued to score steadily at the other end, but when Wright fell to the spin of Ansar Hussain (4-29), he knew he would have to dig in.
Mark Woodall joined Barnes at the crease and continued to score quickly.
But when they both fell in quick succession, with Barnes bowled by Julian Wilson, the Sutton innings lost impetus and was restricted to 175-7.
The visitors knew that they would have to take early wickets if they were to defend what was probably a slightly below par score – and they did exactly that as Barry Stanway (1-53) destroyed
Mike Kearns’ stumps with just the second ball of the innings.
This saw the introduction of the experienced Dring, who quickly settled in against Sutton’s quicks.
The introduction of spin twins Jake Burton (1-38) and Rob Simpson (2-31) slowed Dring down, but he went to 50 in good time.
Spalding looked to be cruising to victory with Dring and Simon Juckes (30) at the crease, but the reintroduction of Jimmy Wright (5-47) got Sutton back into the game.
He dismissed Dring for a well-made 79 – and wickets continued to tumble.
When Jimmy Wright removed Jamie Juckes (15), Spalding still needed two runs to win with just one wicket left.
But number ten Wilson saw his side home with a thick edge down to third man take the points for his side.
Spalding picked up 18 points for their troubles, with Sutton taking eight.
Sutton vice captain Jimmy Wright said: “It was a great game between two evenly matched sides and it really could have gone either way.
“We were probably 10 or 15 runs short and that’s what made the difference in the end.”
