Won at a canter
LUDDINGTON'S resources were stretched to the limit last Thursday in this Division One match with no less than ten players unavailable to play at Drax Village through holiday or work committments but they managed to field 11 and ultimately won at a canter.
Drax batted first but found runs hard to come by at first with both Jon Wroot and Matthew Mellers bowling quite tightlyand Luddington struck an early blow when opener Morris was bowled by the impressive Wroot without having troubled the scorers.
Kevin Thomas went in at number three and began to move things along, hitting several boundaries although he lost his partner Dan Montgomery for eight with the score on 31 when Jamie Belton took a superb one handed tumbling catch at mid wicket.
Luke Edwards joined Thomas and he too began to find the boundary only to be cut short on 13, bowled by the Isle team youngster Alex Fletcher who was to have a spell to remember as the game progressed. Simon Vaux was next to go, stumped by Mark Coulman off master Fletcher for nine with the total on 67 and the big hitting Steve Smith became Fletcher's third wicket when Matt Mellers took a quite incredible catch at deep mid on when the score had reached 78. Tom Sharpe got amongst the wickets, bowling Ed Montgomery for 0. Alex Fletcher bowled Thomas for 36 to leave Drax struggling on 81 for 7.
Sharpe picked up two further wickets to end with 3 for 17 but it was Fletcher who took the plaudits with figures of 4 for 18 from his allotted overs as Drax ended on 97 for 9. Luddington opener Jamie Belton produced a quality batting performance to guide them home. Along with Darren Clark he took the Luddington reply to 46 with a combination of excellent defence and aggressive hitting before Clark was bowled by home skipper Matt Atkinson for 15 which saw Simon Lewis join Belton in the middle. The two batsmen then proceede to steer Luddington home, picking up singles with ease and generally guiding their team to victory.
Lewis was bowled for 18 by Dave Brinded with the score on 88 but Belton went on to make his own personal half century and ultimately hit the winning boundary to end the game on 54 not out, earning Ludd an eight wicket victory that keeps them in the hunt to retain their title.
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Weather for Epworth
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
