A half-century from Josh Newton and Jack Barratt’s five-wicket haul helped Spalding Town rediscover their winning touch at Boston 2nd on Saturday.
Having made 184-9 from their 45 overs at the Mayflower, Town bowled out their near neighbours Boston for just 95 in reply to maintain their challenge for the South Lincs and Border League Premier Division title.
That saw Spalding collect 19 points from the clash, leaving them four points behind leaders Bourne 2nd ahead of the pair’s clash at Spalding Grammar School this Saturday (1pm).
Hosts Boston won the toss and opted to field first – a decision they were probably delighted with when George Bayliss (1-46) removed Jon Manton for a duck early on.
That brought Joe Broomfield (16) and Newton (53) together at the crease, with the pair doing their best to steady the ship.
Rizwan Qudir (1-50) soon had Broomfield out, before skipper Jonathan Miles (6) became the first of Damian Lawson’s (6-31) six victims when he was out caught and bowled.
Ethan Lawrence (23) proved to be a good foil for Newton as Town moved the scorecard on, but both men eventually became Lawson’s victims, as were Peter Cook (1) and Stacey Miles (0).
Matt Gill (10) added a few runs down the order before falling to Ben Troops (1-41), with number nine Harry DeCamps (2) Lawson’s final wicket to leave Town in a spot of bother.
However, it was the final pairing of Barratt (36 not out) and Will Naylor (22 not out) who topped Town’s score up with valuable runs at the end of the innings.
The pair helped Spalding to a very defendable 184-9, but couldn’t quite reach 200 for maximum batting points.
Boston’s reply suffered two early blows, with Barratt (5-35) bagging the wickets of Lawson (4) and Ben Newton (1) being dismissed by Barratt (5-35) and Naylor (1-20).
Troops (16) was then bowled by Barratt and Sean Barnett (1) nicked the same bowler behind to leave the hosts toiling on 31-4.
Sisa Tuntulwana (19) was the next man out with the score on 55, with Barratt again taking the scalp. He struck again to remove Aaron Bradshaw (3) and leave Boston on the brink at 74-6.
The home side’s hopes essentially ended when top scorer Qudir (17) was trapped LBW by DeCamps with the score on 77.
That man DeCamps (2-8) also bowled Liam Bent (5), while a wicket for Jonathan Miles (1-26) and a run out wrapped up the Boston innings in the 31st over.
The victory leaves Spalding four points shy of the summit, but a victory over Bourne 2nd this weekend would see them climb back on top.
