Lindum Slip to Alford Defeat

Following the heavy rain on Friday afternoon the toss was always going to play a major factor in the Firsts game with Alford last Saturday at the home of cricket. The visitors took full advantage and soon had Lindum reeling at 11-2 as first Pierce Morley-Barnes and then Will Taylor fell caught behind the wicket. It was then down to the skipper and Will Wright, our very own Cook and Root, to rebuild our innings. Once again Charlie Tomlinson and Wrighty played very patiently and sensibly to take us from that 11-2 place to a better place, 70-2. Charlie fell for 30 and Ben Rolfs and Aaron Onyon came and went very quickly. Wrighty then departed for 43 to leave us teetering at 98-6. The pitch was offering some assistance but we also contributed to our own downfall in some of those dismissals. At 98-6 we needed stout resistance and we found it with two of the most solid gentleman you can find in the shape of Richard Bishop and David Spokes. If you were you were formulating a ‘Gentlemans Eleven’ then Spokes would be high on your list of possible candidates. ‘Spokesy’ is a very talented cricketer and he and Bish played some good sensible cricket as their positive cricket pushed us forward at a healthy rate. As the afternoon sun began to give out some heat the Lindum duo began to run Alford ragged. Bish was his usual ferret like self whilst the enthusiasm to run a quick single even rubbed off on Spokes. David hadn’t run this quick since he sprinted to WH Smith when he heard that the Financial Times had a coupon offer in the late 2000s! Spokes fell for 24 with the score on 141 and Grant Watkins went in to take over the run push. Grant was batting very nicely as he and Bish took the score to 169 before Grant had to retire hurt after his calf snapped in two like a breadstick ☹ Joe came and went, although 6 off 2 balls is a decent return and the innings closed on 177.

A score that was defendable for sure but you were left thinking that if we had batted with a little more caution in the middle order we could have pushed onwards to the 200 mark.

The Alford innings couldn’t have started any better as Onyon took a wicket first ball as Tomlinson snaffled an opportunity at short leg. Onyon and Wright bowled very tightly as Alford struggled to get above the 2 runs an over mark in their chase. The introduction of Rolfs in the fifteenth over saw the next wicket as Bishop expertly stumped an Alford opener for 14 with the score on 35. When Rolfs followed up just six runs later the Lindum seemed in control. 52-4 was the score when Jake Benson took the wicket of the Alford number 5 and the home side seemed in control. This brought Andrew White to the crease to partner Kiwi import Rikki Bovey. The New Zealander had been finding runs hard to come by but he was sticking in there and White is an explosive player. Sadly we then saw a number of chances put down by the Lindum as firstly twelfth man Kempton shelled one at deep square and Morley-Barnes a few overs later put a chance down. With White opening his shoulders and Bovey keeping the scoreboard ticking the game began to slip away from the Lindum. As the score ticked up you could only feel for the spin twins of Benson and Rolfs who were bowling very well and not being rewarded for their efforts. The breakthrough finally came when the score was on 144 as Benson trapped Bovey LBW. He struck again moments later to leave Alford on 152-6 needing twenty-eight to win for four wickets. A further chance went down as Onyon spilled White as he looked to finish the game with as minimal hits as possible! Finally White was dismissed for 70 when Onyon caught him at mid-wicket off the bowling of Benson. His brother Tom came to the crease to replace him and bludgeoned the first two balls of Onyon’s over to the boundary to see Alford home by three wickets.

Yes we had the worst side of the toss but we cannot hide behind that. We had opportunities to win the game and at the critical moments of the game weren’t able to take them. With results going our way that fourth place and a spot on Grand Final weekend is still within site, so is the relegation zone though! A trip to Sleaford this Saturday will shape the rest of the season.

Report by James Kempton