Earl Shilton take their much-needed first win of the season at home

AT the weekend Earl Shilton Town recorded their first win of the season, a much needed win by 15 runs against Loughborough Town 2nds at Keats Lane.

Having lost the toss and being asked to bat on a wicket that was likely to favour the ball initially, Ethan Hawkins and Giles Holmes got the innings off to a solid start with a partnership of 41.

The loss of Hawkins, brought Liam Phillips to the crease and he looked in good form from ball one. With Giles they put on an excellent 50 partnership taking the score to 97 in the 19th over. With both batsman taking the game to Loughborough it seemed that the Town were beginning to take control of the game, until Holmes was dismissed looking to add to his score of 49.

This brought Skipper Josh Payne to the crease and it wasn’t long before he was joined by James Millinship following Liam holding out in the deep to a good catch for 34.

Payne and Millinship consolidated the innings and rotated the strike well. With contributions from Millinship, Phil Crouch, Pav Singh and a well made 32 from Payne, Shilton ended on 190 all out on the last ball of the 45th over.

Alfie Gurney finishing with 4 wickets or the visitors.

In reply Loughborough Town appeared to be progressing relatively comfortably towards victory, being 106-3 with plenty of overs left and a seemingly less than challenging run rate.

However, the Town bowlers continued to take wickets at key times and managed to restrict the boundary count with good accurate bowling.

The four bowlers, Tom Verow, Phil Crouch, Ethan Hawkins and Zak Pot- ter all contributing on the wicket front. It was Potter with 4 wickets and Verow with a key second spell which proved decisive as the boundaries dried up for the visitors.

In the penultimate over a Wooldrige six gave the visitors renewed hope. Potter ensured that it was nothing more than hope as he bowled the last over which saw the team over the line to victory with Loughborough finishing on 175-9.

The 1st team now look to build on the victory and move out of the relegation places with a visit to Sileby Town 2nds on Saturday.

Earl Shilton Town 2nds didn’t fair as well in their game at Walton-LeWolds. Having lost the toss, it was always going to be tricky given the wicket was very damp from early morning rain. Earl Shilton were bowled out in the 34th over with the score at 86.

In reply the visitors reached their target of 87 to win in the 22nd but did lose 6 wickets, with the Earl Shilton bowlers and fielding unit putting in a good performance. The 2nd XI will be looking to get back to winning ways this Saturday at home to Cropston CC 2nd XI