WILLOUGHBY CC’s hopes of securing a third straight win in Northamptonshire Cricket League Division 7 were dashed after an entertaining six-wicket defeat away at Northampton Saints seconds.
Batting first, the visitors recovered from the early loss of Chait Kurusala being dismissed for a duck as Callum Hanks was joined by Ashley Rayner who kept things ticking alone nicely.
Hanks was next to go for 46 before Bonthuys, Cluley and Deery all came and went for low scores.
Ben Hollis joined Rayner and together got the runs going in the 32nd over, the former scoring 17 in one over and five sixes in a quick 41 before Rayner was also dismissed for 84.
Matt Goss 12 not out and Mark Fell 19 not out added a few late runs to bring Willoughby back in for tea for 245-8 off 45 overs.
Willoughby took to the field knowing that defending a par score on a small ground was always going to be tough but they got an early reward with the removal of Hussain edged behind.
This brought together the father and son combination of Jack and Marcus Bates who put together an excellent partnership and started to take the game away from Willoughby.
Bonthuys was given the ball to slow the run rate and peg them back and it eventually paid off when Jack Bates was run out on 90.
Another quick wicket followed but Saint’s Shelton came in and a scored a quick 43 before being caught on the boundary.
Nevertheless the damage had already been done and Saints got over the line with eight balls and six wickets to spare as M Bates finished on 82 not out for the hosts.
Elsewhere, a maiden century from Martyn Norman guided Willoughby’s second string to a comfortable 111-run victory in Division 13 as they saw off a spirited Old Northamptonians at The Green.
Having won the toss, the hosts chose to set a target on another excellent Willoughby wicket and Norman and Ian Andrews negotiated the opening 14 overs before the former departed for 17 at 48- 1.
Sean Thornton came and went soon after before Norman was joined by Jake Quinney who made a welcome return and together they put on 104 for the third wicket.
Norman took charge as he bludgeoned the ball very square and very hard despite the fine efforts of Melits who fielded especially well in the deep to prevent a host of boundaries.
Quinney was run out for 27 at 164-3 in the 32nd over but Norman secured a scintillating 100 consisting of 14 boundaries and four maximums before eventually being dismissed for 113.
Matt Sutton then arrived and looked in form making 42 not out as Willoughby closed their 40 overs on 230-5. The pick of the bowling for the visitors was Vignesh Patel with 2-60.
After the break, Quinney 1-15 and Ryan Lines 1-12 pegged back the visitors early on.
And Old Northamptonians never really got going after that with the dangerman Deeming chipping the ball up to the centurion for an easy catch.
Matt Sutton 3-19, John Gregson 2-18 and Fergus Deery 2-13 snaffled some wickets as there was a late rally from Smith 32 and young Melits 18 not out to finish on a respectable 119-9 in their allotted 40 overs.
