The 1st XI travelled to Abbey Lawn to take on Bourne in a mouth-watering tie between last season’s Lincs ECB Premier League top two. Asked to bat first openers Shaan Patel and Aayush Patel put on 73 for the first wicket before Aayush was dismissed for 32. At 101-1 in 21 overs the Sleaford XI with a very strong batting lineup would have been eyeing a total pushing towards 300 but, despite quick scoring contributions from Cooper 23 and Shorthouse 42 to go with Shaan’s 63 regular wickets fell in the latter part of the innings ending on a respectable 244-8. Wing remaining not out for 31. Early wickets were key and Tite delivered with Bourne struggling at 10-2, but they also have a strong batting line-up so the game was still in the balance with Morgan and Evison at the crease. The introduction of the Harbron brothers Drew and Kieran brought the game back into the balance as both batters were dismissed without much addition to the score. Drew’s tight bowling was a key driver to piling on the pressure and stemming the flow of runs. A number of 30-40 run partnerships were built, but the Sleaford attack kept chipping away putting Bourne behind the required run rate. A brace of wickets apiece for Tite, K Harbron, Cooper and Shorthouse alongside one for Drew, coupled with a run out, saw Sleaford across the winning line, dismissing Bourne for 226 to win by 18 runs and claim the full 20 points. Sleaford have now opened up a 12 point lead at the top of the league with a game in hand on their nearest rivals.
The 2nd XI welcomed Freiston to London Road in the SLB Championship. Opting to bat first Sleaford lost early wickets finding themselves 28-3 before Oli Bean and man of the moment Ben Lambert restored some order adding 32 for the next wicket before Bean was out for 20. The returning Simon Godby contributed 22 supporting Lambert who in turn reached his third half century of the season. Neill Henderson struck an undefeated 41 to see out the innings giving Sleaford a total of 186-7 to defend. The home team made early inroads into the Freiston batting with veteran Giles Goddard claiming 3-12 in a miserly 9 over spell. Good support came from Dylan Chessum with 3 victims of his own and surprise addition, skipper Dan Hutson, swapping the keeping gloves for the ball also claiming 3 wickets. Despite a recovery for the 7th and 8th wickets, Freiston were never really in the hunt and victory was wrapped up in the 44th over by 17 runs. Sleaford now sit 3rd in the table just 4 points behind the leaders.
Onto Sunday and the Women’s 1st XI hosted Duffield. With several of their team not making the start time, Duffield won the toss and elected to bat. Holly Vaughan and Millie Bell shared the new ball and had both openers back in the hutch without troubling the scorers. 31 runs were added for the next wicket before 2 fell in quick succession. Duffield’s middle order responded taking the score to 110-6 before a late flurry of wickets saw them dismissed for 118 with 10 balls of the innings remaining. Two wickets apiece for Holly, Millie and Tamsin Henry with Evie Jarvis and Daisy Schofield also claiming a wicket alongside two run outs. Despite the early loss of Emma Farmer, Rebecca Hudson and Evie Jarvis mixed aggression with composure as they looked to chase down the total. Rebecca playing the anchor role in support of Evie reached 16 before being dismissed just after the drinks break with the score on 62. Holly Vaughan (18 n.o.) again supported Evie in the chase as the accelerator was pressed with fine shots played around the ground. Evie reaching her maiden club half century in knocking off the winning runs with a boundary and finishing 51 not out. A victory by 8 wickets with almost 10 overs remaining.
The Women’s softball team were also in action, expecting 2 fixtures, unfortunately Alford had to concede so only Grimsby to play at Nocton. Asking Grimsby to bat they put on 77 in their 16 overs, but the loss of 8 wickets saw them post a net score of 237. Emily Henderson claiming 4-6 with Crystal Stasiak and Ellie Baxter-Hill picking up 2 wickets each. In response, Sleaford scored an impressive 101 for the loss of only 2 wickets giving them a net score of 291 and victory by 54 runs.
The final fixture of the weekend saw the 1st XI travel to Owmby in the Lincoln & District Premier Division. Having won both of their fixtures thus far, Sleaford were looking to continue the trend in pursuit of a 3rd title in as many years. Batting first, despite some useful contributions through the order the innings never really got going and Sleaford finished on a below par 153 all out from their 40 overs. Aayush Patel top scoring with 47. Owmby chased this down with relative ease for the loss of 4 wickets with 6 overs to spare.
Summary of all Sleaford CC results from the past week
| Date | Home Team | Away Team | Result |
| 15 May | Sleaford CC Under 15 160/4 | Nettleham CC- Under 15 Hurricanes 22 | Win by 138 runs Scorecard |
| 17 May | Caythorpe CC Under 13 73/7 | Sleaford CC Under 13 89/4 | Win by 16 runs Scorecard |
| Sleaford CC Under 11 91/2 (net 275) | Boston CC Under 11 45/8 (net 181) | Win by 94 runs Scorecard | |
| 20 May | Bourne CC 1st XI 226 | Sleaford CC 1st XI 244/8 | Win by 18 runs Scorecard |
| Sleaford CC 2nd XI 186/7 | Freiston L&L CC 1st XI 169 | Win by 17 runs Scorecard | |
| 21 May | Louth CC Under 10 90/4 (net 258) | Sleaford CC Under 10 102/6 (net 254) | Loss by 4 runs Scorecard |
| Sleaford CC Women’s Soft Ball 101/2 (net 291) | Grimsby Town CC Women’s Softball 77/8 (net 237) | Win by 54 runs Scorecard | |
| Owmby CC Sunday XI 154/4 | Sleaford CC Sunday 1st XI 153 | Loss by 6 wickets Scorecard | |
| Sleaford CC Women’s 1st XI 120/2 | Duffield CC Women’s 1st XI 118 | Win by 8 wickets Scorecard |
This week’s fixtures
| Date | Start Time | Home Team | Away Team |
| Monday 22 May | 18:00 | Hartsholme CC Under 15 | Sleaford CC Under 15 |
| Tuesday 23 May | 18:00 | Sleaford CC Under 13 | Boston CC Under 13 |
| Saturday 27 May | 11:30 | Sleaford CC 1st XI | Market Deeping CC 1st XI |
| 13:00 | Woodhall Spa CC 2nd XI | Sleaford CC 2nd XI | |
| Sunday 28 May | 13:00 | Sleaford CC Sunday 2nd XI | Heighington CC 1st XI |
| 13:00 | Sleaford CC Women’s 1st XI* | Blyth CC EMWCL Women’s XI |
* Hosted by Nocton CC
Sleaford will be in Winkworth Cup T20 action as we host finals day on Bank Holiday Monday 29 May. Play starts at 10:30am with the first semi-final Sleaford v Woodhall Spa. The second semi-final is scheduled to start at 1:30pm as Bourne take on Scunthorpe. Winning semi-finalists meet in the final at 4:30pm.
The bar will be open for all fixtures and supporters are more than welcome to come and spectate.
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