Melton Mowbray CC teams stay top of County League divisions

Syston arrived at the All England Sports Ground in third place, but a string performance with the bat and then ball helped Melton to an emphatic 130-run win which sent them 26 points clear.

Carel Fourie top-scored with an unbeaten 91, with sizeable contributions from Claricoats (57), Cusack (63) and Peveritt (47) as Melton piled up an imposing 284-4 from their 45 overs.

Fourie and Cusack then got stuck in with the ball taking 4 for 19 and 4 for 33 respectively to help bowl the visitors out for 154 in the 36th over, with Jariwala (47) top-scoring in the reply.

Next up for Melton is a trip to closest challengers Newbold Verdon on Saturday (1pm start).

* Melton Mowbray Second XI also stayed top of Division Nine East with a hard-fought win at Langtons Third XI.

A worn wicket proved difficult for both sets of batsmen with erratic bounce throughout the day.

Langtons won the toss and elected to bat first with father and son combination Liam and Karl Tew opening the bowling.

The openers played out the first six overs safely before Langtons lost three quick wickets, two to Liam and one to Karl.

Dangerous opener Prem Manilal tried to hit his way out of trouble as the hosts were bogged down by tight, threatening bowling lines.

However, he soon ran out of luck as spinner Archie Cropper had him caught on the boundary in his first over.

Langtons continued to lose regular wickets, but a quick 33 from Nathan Stretton, including two sixes off Trish Panchal, took them to 103 before Hugo Gibbs took the last wicket in just the 25th over.

Due to the early finish of the innings, Melton agreed to bat 10 overs before tea, and for the third week running they lost an early wicket when Adam Thompson was out to the fourth ball, hitting a full toss straight to mid-off.

He was soon followed back to the pavilion by Mark Mabbutt and Hugo Gibbs as Melton slumped to 15-3 in the seventh over.

The visitors were glad to reach tea with no further wickets down, but with a big rebuilding job on their hands.

After tea, Callum Hull was soon caught behind, bringing Panchal to the wicket who counter-attacked.

He made a rapid 33 off 19 balls, including two straight sixes off Stretton, an apt revenge for his earlier attack on Panchal’s bowling.

However, the change bowler then removed him as he popped up an easy catch to mid-off.

Opener James Culy soon followed after a dogged 13 off 56 balls, anchoring the innings, and when Karl Tew dragged on, Melton were struggling at 73-7.

But Max Braine (4 not out) and Liam Tew (18 not out) managed to put together a partnership of 30 as scraped home by three wickets win, Liam following his bowling heroics with a classy knock.

Melton host local rivals Ashby Carington on Saturday.

Langtons: 103.

Bowling: L. Tew 7-2-24-4; K. Tew 10-5-31-3; A. Cropper 5-0-17-2; T. Panchal 2-0-27-0; H. Gibbs 0.4-0-2-1.

Melton: A. Thompson 0, J. Culy 13, M. Mabbutt 5, H. Gibbs 1, C. Hull 2, T. Panchal 33, M. Braine 4*, K. Tew 8, L. Tew 18*, Extras 28. Total: 106-7.