Nocton Cricket Club - news

Nocton Cricket Club Match reports

Nocton v Hykeham - Sunday July 5th
Hykeham (99 all out) lost to Nocton (212 all out) by 113 runs

Nocton travelled to Hykeham full of confidence and came away rewarded as they made it four wins in a row.

Nocton won the toss and chose to bat. Dylan Garfoot got off to a flying start and after the loss of an early wicket, received excellent support from Mikey Atkinson. Garfoot found the boundary regularly and kept up his remarkable record against Hykeham, reaching his fifth century against the team. He was eventually dismissed for 116. Miles Lynch added 19 before Atkinson was the last man dismissed for a well-constructed 42.

With a healthy score of 212 to defend, Nocton took tea confident of victory. Garfoot followed his century with two early wickets, before a brief rain shower brought the players off with the score on 7-2. Thankfully the weather cleared and the players soon made their way back on to the field. Regular wickets from Atkinson (four) and Chris Brogan (two) left Hykeham reeling, before Garfoot added a third and Lynch took the final wicket to seal victory.

Match scorecard: http://nocton.play-cricket.com/website/results/2413898

Nocton v Woodhall Spa - Sunday 12th July
Nocton (102 all out) lost to Woodhall Spa (103-4) by six wickets

Nocton hosted league leaders Woodhall Spa, looking to make it five wins in a row.

Nocton lost the toss but were happy to be asked to bat first. Openers Dylan Garfoot and Matthew Stephens saw off some tight bowling in an opening stand of 47. Unfortunately both were dismissed in quick succession, and the team struggled thereafter. Garfoot made 34 runs while Mikey Atkinson continued his good form with 33, before nine-man Nocton were dismissed in the 31st over for a below-par 102.

Nocton came out to bowl after tea in search of quick wickets. Atkinson made an early breakthrough and this was followed by a wicket for Garfoot. The score kept ticking along, and despite a wicket on debut for Calum Pringle and a run out by Lee Willford, Woodhall reached their target for the loss of four wickets. 

Nocton’s winning streak came to a halt but they head to Rustons next week, aiming to secure a league double over the Lincoln-based club.

Match scorecard: http://nocton.play-cricket.com/website/results/2413903

The new net at Nocton Cricket Club

If any of you have ever seen the cricket nets at Jubilee Park in Woodhall Spa… well, try to put that image out of your mind before you read the rest of this and look at the photographs that follow!

Thanks to some savings from Nocton CC fund-raising events boosted by generous gifts from Beeswax and Nocton Parish Council (200 club) we finally acquired our much needed practice net. Now, acquiring it is one thing … putting it together is another! Fast bowler/batsman Dylan Garfoot and his dad Rob put the base together on their own before realising it would take at least 4 others with a head for heights to finish it off. So the other week I rounded up David Glew, groundsman Vic Willford (and his dog, Jack), Richard Free and his wife Jackie and we manfully, and womanfully, bent our minds to a task that looked easier than it was. It came with no instructions but we used a photograph of the finished product from the internet and worked from that! Jack proved to be of no practical value whatsoever but enjoyed a bit of fuss every time someone came down from a ladder. Richard and David were the ones who did NOT suffer from vertigo so the rest of us passed heavy poles to them and clung on the step ladders on very uneven ground. Richard (pic 1) joined up one end while David (pic2) managed the other and then repeated the process. Once the frame was in place we thought that fitting the net would be a doddle but hauling more than 800 square feet of net over a 24’x12’x9’ frame with two brooms was a bit of a challenge (pic3). Weary, aching but undefeated three men, one woman - and the dog - posed for the final picture (pic4).

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

We have some work still to do on the area around (note the “oil drum stumps”) and the bowlers’ run up which is like a ploughed field but skipper Matthew Stephens picked up a “grass” mat and it’s already proving popular with players and should be a great success over time. There have already been two net practices with half a dozen players and youngsters making the most of the new facility. Picture 5 shows 13 year old Zac being coached by all-rounder Miles Lynch and fast bowler Chris Brogan. If practice does indeed make perfect then Zac may soon be hitting a century as Dylan Garfoot did again at the weekend in a 113 run victory over Hykeham. Once again we had only 8 players so please contact Matthew if you might be interested in playing. Matthew will be providing us with a match report later in the week.

Picture 5