Mayflower men drop down to seventh spot

Boston 1sts 107, Louth 1sts 111-5 - Louth won by five wickets.

In a crucial game for both sides, both Boston and Louth would have wanted a victory to cement their positions above the bottom two.

The coin came down in favour of Boston captain Tom Baxter, and he chose to bat first, a result that looked to be the wrong decision in a few hours time.

Tom Poole and Dave Newman opened the innings for Boston, but it wasn’t long until Newman was back in the pavilion after edging into the keeper’s pads and the ball ballooning up to gully.

Kieran Evans followed two balls later and Boston were 18-2.

With Liam Sparke joining Poole at the crease, it wasn’t long until Boston lost their third wicket when Poole was run-out for 12 after a mix-up between the pair.

“It was a terrible start really,” Baxter admitted.

Sparke and Ryan Croom set about re-building the innings and added 34 runs before Sparke was dismissed by both umpires in bizarre scenes.

He was adjudged to have edged behind and, in the process, the keeper whipped the bails off to see the square leg umpire give a stumping.

Croom followed after a fantastic stumping for an innings-high 26 from 26 balls.

At 78-5, Ben Troops was dismissed after a smart catch from Sebastian Darke off the bowling of Tom Corden.

When Baxter was adjudged to be out for 16, Boston were 82-7.

Pete Mitchell’s 12 and Riley Orr’s 11 edged Boston over the 100 mark before Corden cleaned up the rest, bowling Mitchell, Orr and Andy Hewitt to end with 5-47 off 13 overs.

“We didn’t perform with the bat,” Baxter conceded.

“They bowled very well. It was one of those days. Credit where credit’s due, they outperformed us comprehensively.”

After the tea interval, Boston were only able to bowl one over before the umpires spotted some lightning and had to remove the players from the field of play.

Early wickets were going to be crucial if Boston were to stand any chance of causing a shock victory.

When Boston returned to the playing arena, Baxter removed Laurence Scott and Orr picked up the wicket of Darke, leaving Boston 21-2.

Keaton Critchell and Richard Bell were at the crease and Baxter removed Critchell after a phenomenal catch from Poole.

Both Wests, Stewart and Graham, were soon back in the pavilion, after Paul Deans and Baxter dismissed them.

Louth were sat at 50-5 and Boston had a glimmer of hope.

However, a fantastic partnership between Bell and Corden saw Louth remove that glimmer and slowly but surely edge closer to the total before completing the victory in the 40th over.

“We bowled really well. To make them take 40 overs to score 108 runs was a really good effort from the bowlers,” the Boston skipper added.

“We fielded well and worked really hard after tea.

“The reason we weren’t in the game was because of the batting performance.

“We were always fighting a losing battle after that poor showing.”

Boston would have found it difficult to select a man of the match after that result, but notable performances came from Croom (26) with the bat and Baxter (3-43 from 17) with the ball.

“There was only one man of the match today. Tom Corden picked up 5-47 and scored 35 not out,” Baxter said.

“He contributed for Louth in both innings and today, he was the difference.”

Boston’s five wicket defeat saw them pick up two points.

Boston dropped to seventh in the table.