Kirkby Portland CC 1st XI v Southwell CC 1st XI

Two strong teams, full of confidence turned up at a hot and stuffy Kirkby Portland in a top of the table clash. Both teams started the day on 87 points, Southwell unbeaten and Kirkby Portland only having lost to Gotham previously. On what looked an interesting wicket Kirkby won the toss and, as in all of their previous games, elected to field.

Fryer snicked off early to once again bring Rainbow in to build a partnership with Green. Having timed a nice flick off his legs Rainbow built in confidence and pushed on to quickly take the Southwell score to over 50 before the 15th over. With the score on 79 (a well built partnership between the two) Rainbow was caught for 31. Miller and Hemstock both fell for 6 and Southwell were looking for someone to step in and support the solid innings that Green was building. Foster stepped to the crease and Green began to push on to reach another excellent 50. Having kept it very tight and fielded well for the previous 10 overs Kirkby began to let it slip as both Foster and Green frequently found the boundary. Green found two big sixes to bring up the first century scored by a Southwell CC player since 2011. A truly fantastic innings with not a single chance given, the second 50 from just 37 balls, well batted Greeny! A flurry of wickets towards the end with Foster holing out going for a big hit on 44 (another brilliant innings which perfectly supported Greeny) left Southwell with a respectable 219/8 from their allotted overs.

Southwell knew that Kirkby Portland had a very strong top 4 as had been seen in their previous games this season and big scores last year, early wickets would be key. Once again Sprawson stepped up and, in his second over, dismissed Jones for 6 and then Casterton for 22. Rainbow kept excellent lines and the extra bit of swing and bounce did for Jones as he snicked off to Fryer who did his best to drop the simplest of chances but managed to cling on. Sprawson picked up the vital wicket of Caunt for 25 and Southwell had made the breakthroughs they needed, Kirkby 53/4. More tight bowling by Wright and Rimmer lead to wickets falling frequently, unfortunately at the cost of Rainbow's little finger as he took a good catch off Rimmer in the deep. Massive thanks to Sam Barber for scoring and then stepping in as 12th man. King and Severn dead batted and left for 10 overs, despite good bowling and saw Kirkby through to the draw.

17 points for Southwell takes them clear at the top of the league and confident that they can make that spot their own. Keyworth at home next week with a couple of players missing but confident that we can keep this excellent run going. Each win builds up the spirit in the squad and a win for the 2's also keeps the positive atmosphere in the club flowing. Keep up the cracking work! (That's for you Wrighty...)