Character aplenty in villagers' win

By cdaniels

Horrington 235-5 beat Long Sutton 234 all out by 5 wickets

Horrington displayed their fighting character on Saturday as they recovered from a poor fielding performance to chase down a large target at Chapel Piece.

Captain Nick Mortimer won the toss and elected to bowl first, but his team were unable to find an early breakthrough as C Vigar (35) and S Long (64) put on 80 for the first wicket.

Eventually the first scalp was taken when Jack Burge (1-27) bounced out Vigar. This brought C Saunders to the wicket and he immediately launched an attack on the bowlers, smashing three huge sixes on his way to a brisk 38 before he was caught by Burge off the bowling of Nick Mortimer (2-74).

Opposition captain J Cook then picked up the baton and continued the high scoring rate as Long Sutton progressed towards 200. Andy Mortimer (1-48) then dismissed Long before Cook (34) perished to a boundary catch by Nick Mortimer off the bowling of Jason Delange.

Sutton continued their big hitting and picked up regular boundaries, aided by three dropped catches as they registered an imposing 234. Delange (3-50) collected late wickets as Horrington claimed maximum bowling points.

In reply, Horrington made a steady start, but the required rate increased dramatically as only 21 were scored in the first nine overs.

In the next 12 overs, Horrington increased the run-rate, but lost wickets as Wood (22), Gibbs (11), A Mortimer (11) and N Mortimer (15) got starts before being dismissed, Saunders (3-47) doing most of the damage.

Horrington were up against it at 93-4, especially with the middle and lower order short of match practice. However, Delange was in form and, demonstrating his devastating ability with the bat, as he ruthlessly dispatched any loose bowling to the boundary.

Graham Russell (54no) provided valuable support for Delange as the pair added 95 for the fifth wicket to give themselves a sniff of victory before Delange eventually departed for a magnificent 76 with the score on 188.

Gareth Seery (18no) then joined Russell at the crease and they saw their side to victory. Seery showed his class with a calm innings in a tense situation, while Russell combined boundaries with excellent running to register his second league half-century and give Horrington their sixth win on the bounce.