Lathey and Jn Marie drive side to victory

An impressive third wicket stand between Nicky Jn Marie and Tom Lathey drove Little Marlow 2nds to an exciting victory over The Lee 2nds on Saturday.

Inserted on a pitch that offered limited assistance to The Lee’s bowling attack, the hosts lost Sim Baines cheaply before Richard Tinsley and Jn Marie began to accelerate the innings along.

Tinsley fell for a solid 37 with the score on 125 in the 27th over, but that brought Lathey to the crease and the host’s scoring rate rocketed.

The pair blazed away, bringing up a hundred partnership from 72 balls.

Skipper Ged Holmes began to weigh the needs of the team against his wish to see Jn Marie and Lathey reach three figures, the latter for the first time. In the end he delayed his declaration, but his generosity wasn’t rewarded as Lathey was cruelly run out four runs short of his century. Jn Marie was not to be denied, however, making his third century as the hosts closed on 281-4 from 45 overs.

The visitors made an excellent start to their run chase, with Mike Harris and Will McKenzie sharing 80 for the first wicket before the latter (37) became 14-year-old Sumat Parmar’s maiden victim. Harris and Aziz Chaudry took the score to 107 at which point the outcome turned decisively in Little Marlow’s favour.

Holmes removed Harris for 47 and Tor Stockdale for a duck while Lathey accounted for Chaudry (14). Wickets then fell in quick succession and at 127-7 Little Marlow had just under 13 overs to take the remaining three wickets. Ollie Cupit and Jordon Essex denied them for seven of those before Mike Carter removed the former and Henry Glasgow fell to Matt Wilson. Essex and James Sharman survived 22 of the last 28 deliveries before Wilson produced a beautiful delivery to beat Essex’s defences with the visitors on 160.Parmar, Holmes, Carter and Wilson all took two wickets a piece.