2018 League round-up 5

Lewis Hill was in fine form with the bat but couldn’t help prevent his Lutterworth side losing to Loughborough Town this weekend.

Lutterworth won the toss and elected to field, which looked a good decision when Loughborough were at 33 for 3.

A 124-run partnership between Charles Lowen and Leicestershire CCC Academy all-rounder Ben Mike recovered the situation, with Mike scoring 75 at a run a ball with 10 boundaries and one maximum.

Lowen was the star of the Loughborough innings hitting 109 at quicker than a run a ball (11x4, 3x6) His side reached a competitive 295-8 from their 50 overs with Kyle Saddington adding a useful 33.

Hill was in quickly as Wesley Marshall fell for 7. Hill and opener Matt Pickering (18) added 68 before Pickering fell which bought the other Hill, Alec to the crease. The brothers were going along nicely until the score reached 161 when Lewis was dismissed by George Kenny for 98 from 87 balls (8x4).

This led to a collapse from Lutterworth as they fell to 220 all out, Alec the next top scorer with 48. Kenny added a further four victims to his collection as he finished with figures of 6 for 47 from 9.2 overs to see his side to an impressive victory.

It was an impressive day for skipper Aadil Ali at Kibworth as his side took on Barkby. Aadil won the toss and choose to bowl and it proved an inspired decision with Syston being bowled out for 87 and extras top scoring with 28. Aadil was in the wickets, bowling five overs for just 11 runs and taking three wickets in the process, Dave Whitmore and Charlie Page-Morris each taking a two-for.

Aadil was back in the action early as Kibworth were 15-1; he batted through guiding his side to victory with an unbeaten 33 even as wickets fell around him. For Barkby, Louis Botting and Cameron Sharp both took three wickets but it wasn’t quite enough as Kibworth got home with four wickets to spare.

League leaders Kegworth suffered a comprehensive defeat at the hands of Leicester Ivanhoe. Kegworth won the toss and elected to bat but were in early trouble as Academy bowler Alex Evans and Sub-Academy bowler James Graham each took three wickets before Mitchell Carey and Lee Hunt collected two as Kegworth were bowled out for 77. Ivanhoe got home with nine wickets to spare, Joe Kendall hitting 45*.

Sileby were also in good form with the ball as they bowled Syston out for 91. Ryan Dawson returned stunning figures of 10-6-8-5, ripping through the Syston middle order. The Sileby chase required an experienced head and Jigar Naik provided that, hitting 29 not out as Sileby got home with six wickets in hand.

Market Harborough got their first win of 2018 in a low-scoring thriller with Uppingham Town. Harborough batted all their allocated overs to make 145-8, Academy all-rounder Don Butchart top-scoring with 79. Scott Green took 3-20 from 10 overs for Uppingham. Butchart’s day got better as he ripped through the Uppingham batting line up taking 5-31 from 10 overs as Uppingham could only reach 117 in reply.

Langtons and Barrow Town shared a thriller as 16 wickets fell with 197 runs scored. Langtons batted first but could only reach 96 before being bowled out. Rajneesh Kumar impressed for Barrow, taking 3-11, with Umar Afzal and Ankesh Dunsuclal both picked up two wickets.

Barrow’s response got off to a bad start as they were 1 for 2. Skipper Ramesh Kara top-scored with 32 to get his side close to the line. It was left to Wewalwala Hewage Chanditha and Tom Shipman to get Barrow home, adding the final 19 runs as their side won by four wickets.

Away from the Leicestershire league, Cameron Delport was in inspired form on debut for Ashcombe Park. His side batted first and made 208 before being bowled out in the 48^th over.

Delport top-scored for his new team with 83 from 72 balls (11x4, 1x6) He then dominated with the ball taking 4 for 15 from 6 overs as Burslem slipped to 85 all out.

Zak Chappell was in the wickets for Stamford taking 4 for 28 as his side defended 116 against Blunham. Ateeq Javid was another Fox in the wickets as he took 2 for 43 from 17 overs, his side running out six-wicket winners against Walsall.

* For the very latest news from the Leicestershire & Rutland Cricket League, check out their website HERE