Cricket: Waddington beat Carholme to clinch Division 3 title

Waddington were crowned champions of the Lincoln & District League Division 3 with a game to spare after a seven-wicket victory away against Carholme.

The match was reduced to 28 overs a side to allow for the forecast rain.

Waddington won the toss and decided to bowl first. Waddington pair James Wright and Billy Evans started the bowling before Joe Raw came into the attack as part of a double change with captain Phil Dainty. Raw took the key wicket of Chris Roe for 15 runs.

Dainty bowled Carholme’s Daniel Marshall before Amogh Mudbhatkal was caught out by Evans, but the 59-run partnership of Steve Parrot and Farhan Ahemd helped Carholme take a firm hold of their innings.

Waddington’s Lewis Bridge made a vital contribution as his and Raw’s two wickets, along with one apiece for Dainty and Evans, saw Carholme finish their innings on 107/6.

Waddington knew they had a tough task on their hands as they were facing the league’s top wicket taker in Justin Hunt.

Captain Dainty and vice-captain Aidan Shaw put on a 57-run partnership before the latter’s wicket was taken by Mudbhatkal. Hunt then took his 43rd wicket of the season by dismissing Ben Skilbeck. This brought Evans to the crease and he put on a partnership of 44 runs with Dainty.

Dainty finished the game with a big six over the leg side to take his tally to 64 not out as Waddington finished on 110/3 to clinch the league title.

Lindum Academy beat Rustons by 84 runs in what was the visitor’s final game of the season. The two teams agreed to played a reduced game of 24 overs each.

Rustons won the toss and put their opponents into bat as Lindum made 171/6, including 52 runs from Matt Pickering who later retired hurt.

Tennyson Ponraj took three wickets and conceded 33 runs for Rustons.

In reply, Rustons produced a total of 87/4 including 50 runs from Ponraj as Lindum ended the match victorious.

Revesby’s 2nd XI saw their match against Gully Cricketers end in a draw after it was abandoned due to the rain.

Gully won the toss and elected to bat with Chirag Ahir playing well and scoring his runs in boundaries to get what would be the top score of the innings with 23, including five fours.

The Gully innings was very much a stop-start effort with only three other batsman reaching double figures before the visitors were bowled out for 82 runs.

Revesby included three father-child pairings and young bowler Isaac Tyler got a wicket in his first over. His opening bowling partner George Pocklington helped keep things tight and economical in the first 10 overs.

Aahad Khalid was the most successful bowler for Revesby, taking five wickets and conceding just 22 runs. Ian Roberts took three wickets and Annie Roberts claimed one, while wicketkeeper Christian James took two catches.

In reply, Revesby lost three quick wickets for just 10 runs with Gully’s opening bowlers Puneet Mehrotra (2/18) and captain August Pandey (1/7) doing the early damage.

Revesby’s Ian Tyler hit 21 not out and William File added one run to prevent further damage as the hosts ended with a score of 40/3 before the torrential rain arrived to ensure the points were shared.

Division 3 will draw to a close next week with one final match scheduled between newly-crowned champions Waddington and Lindum Academy on Sunday.