Spalding Town’s plight at the bottom of Lincs ECB Premier League became even more perilous on Saturday after a disappointing 46-run defeat against Lindum on Saturday.
Rock-bottom Town looked to be on-course for a welcome win when Jonathan Miles took 5-36 to help limit the visitors to 145-8 at Spalding Grammar School.
However, a hat-trick from the on-song Will Wright (5-24) helped Lindum skittle Spalding out for just 99 in their reply. It was a funny run chase from Town, with extras (47) being the leading scorer in their 33.1 over innings.
Lindum opted to bat first after winning the toss, but Spalding made early inroads with Roy Tilley (1-35) bowling Osama Rabbani (4) and Miles getting rid of Aidan Lockwood (0) to leave the visitors wobbling on 29-2.
However, a 66-run partnership between Wright (56) and skipper Charles Tomlinson (33) steadied the ship before Faisal Javed (1-33) removed the latter.
When Miles trapped Wright LBW for 56, Town began to put the squeeze on their rivals. That man Miles bowled Will Taylor (7) and then got rid of Tom Lindsay (8) and Jonathan Miller (3), leaving them toiling on 127-7.
Warren Nel than ran out Harry Wells (8) to make it 129-8, but Richard Bishop’s unbeaten 14 ensured Lindum batted out their overs.
As it turned out, 145-8 was more than enough with Spalding struggling in reply.
They found themselves toiling on 36-5, with openers Javed (5) and Nel (0) the first men out.
Wright, who got both wickets, then took a stunning hat-trick to dismiss Jon Manton (0), Josh Newton (0) and Town skipper Rob Ambrose (2).
Miles (23) and Shoib Choudry (5) pushed the score past 50, but both were soon out to leave the score on 76-7.
Unfortunately for Town, their tail just didn’t wag – with Jordan Butcher (9), Josh Lawrence (0) and Roy Tilley (7) all out to wrap up the innings one shy of a century.
Those 47 wides helped save Town from further embarrassment, with 30 of them being wides.
The defeat sees Town collect just three match points – and they are now 26 points from safety. This Saturday sees Spalding make the daunting trip to table-topping Bracebridge Heath (noon).
