Bourne suffer crucial title blow in Lincolnshire County Board Premier League after home defeat to Grantham
A heavy home defeat by 94 runs for Bourne against Grantham could have dealt a potentially fatal blow to their title hopes.
The loss, coupled with a comfortable win for leaders Woodhall Spa, means the gap between the two is 42 points, with Bourne only having four matches to play.
Woodhall Spa have one fewer but are now hot favourites to take the league title to Jubilee Park.
Grantham, who leaped three places up the table with their win, are now best placed to challenge Woodhall but the margin is a big one to overturn.
At Bourne, Grantham won the toss and elected to bat, reaching 33 without losing a wicket,
"But then two wickets fell in quick succession as, firstly, Colin Cheer bowled Ross Carnelley and then John Nyumbu survived just five balls before Cheer had him caught behind by Steven Crossley for a duck.
However, that brought Dan Freeman to the crease and he went on to enjoy a superb afternoon, scoring an unbeaten 112 in 129 deliveries that included ten fours.
Freeman helped Grantham motor on to 225-6 off the 50 overs.
As for the Bourne bowlers, Cheer finished with figures of 3 for 60 off 12 overs, while Ben Stroud and Dan Bandaranaike were the other wicket-takers.
Bourne’s reply was pretty tame, with openers Jack Berry (4) and Jordan Temple (16) going within the first three overs.
Freeman backed up his batting performance by taking both wickets to show that he was clearly enjoying the match.
Only Peter Morgan (33), who was caught and bowled by Neil Stevenson, and Tom Dixon (35), caught by Carl Wilson off Freeman, provided any resistance.
Bourne’s effort was over in the 38th over, all out for 131.
They picked up just one batting point and two bowling points as Grantham leapfrogged them into second place.
Bourne have a chance to bounce back on Saturday when they make the short trip along the A15 for the derby at Market Deeping who were without a match last weekend.
Woodhall play another lowly side in Boston, but they cannot afford to take them lightly as they have won four out of their last five fixtures.
Lincolnshire ECB Premier League
P W L Pts
Woodhall Spa 15 9 4 212
Grantham 14 7 6 177
Bourne14 7 5 170
Sleaford 14 6 5 163
Bracebridge Heath 13 7 4 163
Lindum14 6 6 161
Market Deeping14 6 5 150
Boston14 4 7 113
Scunthorpe13 3 8 112
Louth15 3 8 111
. Results: Boston 1st 233-6 (19pts) Scunthorpe Town 197-9 (5); Bourne 131 (3) Grantham 225-6 (20); Sleaford 214 95) Lindum 260-4 (20); Woodhall Spa 281-8 (20); Louth 149 (4).
. Fixtures (Saturday, noon): Boston v Scunthorpe; Bourne v Grantham; Sleaford v Lindum; Woodhall Spa v Louth.