Cricket- County Division Three (East)

Menheniot v Luckett

Menheniot entertained local rivals Luckett at the village ground on Saturday in what turned out to be a lively contest in less than perfect summer conditions.

Batting first, the home side got off to a sound start in the shape of openers Phil Adsett and John Massey, putting on five an over before Massey was adjudged lbw to Bowden for a solid 23 in the 12th over. Simon Hunt then joined Adsett at the wicket and these two put on 116 for the the second wicket in a sparkling partnership which really saw the contest swing Menheniot's way. Hunt once again batted with authority and flare in scoring 66 before being bowled by Schutkacker and when Adsett went for a gritty 45, Menheniot found themselves with the perfect platform for a match winning score, being 176-3 off 35 overs. John Carpenter, after taking a little time in coming to terms with the pace of young Perry, then accelerated the score along before falling to the same bowler for 46. He was particularly severe on Perry when he dropped it short, hooking him for two magnificent sixes to the square leg boundry.

Luckett, in the shape of Perry and another youngster, Schutkacker, have potentially two very fine pace bowlers who will cause a lot of problems for batsmen in the future and as and when they learn to put it in the place more often, both will be formidable opponents indeed.

Despite some typically tight bowling from Chris Bowden and Roy Williams, Menheniot eventually totalled 262-6 at the end of their 48 overs.

Bowden and Williams opening the batting for Luckett found the going tough against some tight bowling from Ed Gard and Ian Goldsmith. Williams was the first to go, bowled by Gard for eight and when Bowden was bowled by the same player for a gritty 37 in the 26th over, the visitors were way behind the asking rate at 55-4.

Gard using the breeze behind him, bowled superbly to take 4-53 and Goldsmith was equally impressive and unlucky not to take more than the one wicket that he did. However, when these two had finished, a match that seemed to be fizzling out was livened up by Lowden who proceeded to put bat to ball and give the visitors an outside chance of achieving what seemed impossible. Lowden hit sparkling 74 and with Perry chipping in with 25 Luckett eventually ended on 189 all out, which left Menheniot comfortable winners by 73 runs.

Scorecard

Menheniot

P Adsett b Perry 45

J Massey lbw b Bowden 23

S Hunt b Schutkacker 66

J Carpenter c and b Perry 46

M Rigler b Schutkacker 1

E Gard st Skeet b Berry 16

I Goldsmith not out 4

A Taylor not out 1

Extras 39

Ttl 262-6

Bowling - J Schutkacker 16-0-72-2; C Bowden 10-1-39-1; R Williams 7-1-38-0; M Perry 12-0-60-2; R Berry 3-0-24-1.

Luckett

C Bowden b Gard 37

R Williams b Gard 8

G Finch c Adsett b Gard 3

D Brown c Taylor b Gard 2

J Schutkacker run out 8

M Perry b Goldsmith 25

P Lowen c Taylor b Hunt 74

R berry c Adsett b Je Randle 12

A Skeet c Kelly b Hunt 1

B Tyndell not out 1

Extras 19

Ttl - 189

Bowling - E Gard 16-3-53-4; I Goldsmith 16-7-37-1; S Hunt 5-0-42-2; Je Randle 5-0-40-2.

Result- Menheniot (20 pts) beat Luckett (7) by 73 runs.