Town earn narrow win over rivals

HINCKLEY Towns first full game of the season at local rivals Earl Shilton turned out to be nail biting with the result going to the last over.

Hinckley won the toss and decided to bat, but they were soon in trouble. New signing K Palmer was caught for two off the bowling of Phil Crouch in the 3rd over with the score on four.

Then Avish Patel was stumped by wicket keeper Phillips for a duck also off the bowling of Crouch leaving Hinckley tottering at 12 for 2.

Janack Valand and the other new opener K Monish took the score on to 34 when Valand was bowled by the impressive Crouch for 4.

Captain Raj Sen joined Monish and they restored some order taking the score to 69.

Then they lost 2 wickets for no runs. First Monish was out for a well made 37 caught of the bowling of Zac Potter. And in the same over Potter had Jussab lbw for 0 leaving Hinckley 69 for 5 in the 25 over.

Earl Shilton were well on top now and Hinckley slipped to 97 for 8 when Sen was caught for 30 off the bowling of Crouch. A mini 9th wicket stand of 28 between Kelker and Ravi Singh gave Hinckley some respectability. Kelker was out for 22 with the score on 125. Singh remained 21 not out and Hinckley finished their innings on a 135 for 9 after 45 overs.

Pick of Earl Shilton’s bowlers were Crouch 4 for 24 and Potter 3 for 28.

Earl Shilton lost their 1st wicket with the score on 13 when Giles Holmes was lbw to R Singh for 3. The home side looked comfortable on 50 for 1 after 15 overs but at this point they lost 2 wickets - James Lester was bowled by Gurbish Singh for 16 and Earl Shilton’s captain Josh Payne was caught by Sen for 0 also of the bowling of Singh.

Even on 80 for 4, when opener E Hawkins was bowled by Patel for 30, Earl Shilton still looked on course for victory.

They lost another wicket on 88 when Phillips was caught of the bowling of G Singh.

J Fitt and J Millinship took the score onto 112 then it all went wrong for the hosts when they lost 4 wickets for 11 runs due to Hinckley’s spin bowling trio of Singh, Patel and Valand.

At 123 for 9 the match was in the balance with Millinship and Tom Verow at the crease. It came down to the last over with Earl Shilton needing 8 to win.

They only needed 3 with 2 balls left when Singh bowled Verow giving Hinckley victory by the shortest of margins. Both sides must take credit for a great game or cricket enjoyed by a big crowd. G Singh took 4 for 24 and A Patel 3 for 25 for Hinckley. Hinckley gained 25 points and Earl Shilton 13.

Next week Hinckley host Enderby.