6:10am Wednesday 30th July 2008
By Simon Spurgeon
Chanaka Vithanage’s formidable batting display saw St Osyth rub salt into some earlier cup wounds imposed on Halstead in division one of the PDQ Cars North Essex League.
The coastal side became the first team in two seasons to beat Halstead in the Knockout Cup a few weeks ago, helping to ease the memory of last year’s final defeat, and the Toosey players placed that further in the background with a convincing nine-wicket success in the league.
The battle between the division’s top two was ultimately decided by an undefeated knock of 138 by Vithanage, completmented perfectly by Lewis Groves’ 69 not out at the other end.
Having won the toss, Halstead batted and set off at a good pace with Amit Gupta fiercely striking four sixes and nine fours in his 65 off 12 overs, however, he was well caught on the boundary by Nick De’ath off Groves, who then took a wicket with his next ball to leave the visitors at 97 for three.
The scoring rate slowed dramatically in the next ten overs as James Handscombe’s impressive spell of bowling tied the batsmen down, but Mark Johnson and Tom Philp rebuilt the innings with a partnership of 95 for a total of 236.
St Osyth made a careful start after tea with Vithanage and Nick Shuttleworth putting together a sound opening partnership of 79 in 16 overs and when Vithanage was joined by Groves, they upped the tempo and both found the boundary with ease to secure an impressive victory.
The win saw St Osyth replace previous leaders Halstead, who dropped into third spot a week after having set a new North Essex League scoring record, at the summit. Copford kept their own push for honours going by moving second behind Toosey with a two-wicket success against Great Bromley.
Thripp took four for 33 in restricting Bromley to 166 for nine, before a team effort took Copford past the total for the loss of eight wickets.
In the top flight, leaders Mistley continued their push for the title as Michael Griggs struck a superb 168 and Trent Burge ended undefeated on 76 in their innings of 344 for six from their 45 overs.
It was an imposing total and one that bottom side Kelevedon couldn’t get near as, despite Ed Pope’s knock of 64, they were all skittled out for 230.
Coggeshall’s own title ambitions were dealt a blow, though, as they forfeited their game against Wivenhoe after being unable to raise a side.
Lexden were another side who couldn’t field a team so they also recorded a defeat against Cavaliers in division two, however, the next day there was a big win for Cavaliers as they faced bottom-of-the-pile Tendring.
Simon Gilhooly struck 112 and Danny Skinner a 104 not out in their total of 250 for one, before they knocked Tendring over for just 34 to record a 216-run win and leap into second spot.
In division three, a century for Moseley wasn’t enough to save bottom-placed Chappel from a five-wicket loss to Earls Colne and Bures, who had earlier beaten Real Oddies by 19 runs and Richard Wilson’s five-wicket haul for 27 runs couldn’t save Boxted from a 26-run defeat by Little Clacton.
North Springfield kept their chase for division four honours on track with a three-wicket win against Purleigh, but staying hot on their heels are Braintree College, who had a 71-run success against Eight Ash Green.
Standing out in the College’s statistics was Broyd’s 132 not out and Dan Garner’s 72 in their total of 269 for three, while Adam Archer took a hat-trick in his four for 29 as the Green side were all out for 198.
Division five top dogs Elmstead Grasshoppers continued their relentless pursuit of promotion going with a two-wicket win against second-placed Springfield.
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