Burghley were asked to bat against Grantham and got off to the worst possible start. Olly Billington booked three—yes, three—pieces of Phall after a mix-up saw him run out without facing a ball. Just two balls later, Ryan Gilmour was bowled by a straight one and Burghley found themselves 0-2 after one over. Josh Weller and David Platt rebuilt well, taking the score to 38 before Sakhumuzi Ndlela found a way through Platt’s defences for 16. Josh Weller made 27 before he became Ndlela’s second victim, taking the score to 49-4. Skipper Alex Ashwin and Ewan Williams then combined for a 49-run partnership, ended by Ram Pandey when Williams was caught by Aryan Pandita. Ashwin was well on his way to his half-century before tamely patting a full toss from N. Abid to Ndlela at mid-on to depart for 47. Gareth Hook added some late innings runs with an unbeaten 27, taking the Burghley score to 144-7.

The Grantham response started well for Burghley. M. Saif was caught first ball by Gilmour at square leg from the bowling of Peter Ruffell and Hook removed Pandey for just 9. Then came the partnership that swung the game in Grantham’s favour. Ndlela (31) and Qundeel Haider (42) combined for 76 runs before Caius Headley removed Ndlela and Hook trapped Haider LBW in consecutive overs. The game was back in the balance; however, Som and Bhandari took Grantham to within three runs before Ruffell took the consolation wicket of Bhandari. Grantham came out victorious by five wickets with nine balls to spare.

With a loss in the first game, Burghley were straight back out to face Sleaford in the second game of the day and, once again, were asked to bat first. This time, the start wasn’t quite so disastrous. Weller fell for 6 to an excellent catch from K. Harbron at deep mid-wicket, before Billington and Williams took the score to 45, when Billington could only find the hands of D. Harbron at cover from the bowling of M. Ross. Gilmour and Ashwin came and went for 3 and 7 respectively, while Williams brought up his half-century. Andy Briault made 8, but Gareth Hook again added some late runs with 19, setting Sleaford a target of 125.

George Woods and Matt Mills started with serious intent, taking the score beyond 50 in the powerplay. When the pair both fell in consecutive overs—Xavier Wildsmith having Woods caught by Ashwin at mid-wicket for 42 and Weller having Mills stumped for 20—the score was 66-2. Tom Sanders could only add 5 before he was bowled by Wildsmith, before Tom Stephan and Drew Harbron took Sleaford to the brink. They were both caught by Ashwin on the deep mid-wicket boundary from the bowling of Weller and Harry Armstrong, but Matt Wing and Mason Mansfield saw Sleaford home with ease in just 14.5 overs.

These matches were sponsored by BCF Equity Partners