14° Sunny
Hi: 22° Lo:12° 7 day
Hi: 22° Lo:12° 7 day
LUTTERWORTH Cricket Club have booked their place in the final of the Leicestershire County Cup after beating Premier League leaders Kibworth by four wickets in a tense semi-final on Sunday.
Kibworth were Oliver Pickering’s side’s second top division scalp after they beat Syston Town in the quarter-final.
They will face another top flight outfit - Market Harborough - who are second in the Premier League in the final at Grace Road on Sunday, September 8.
It marks a revival of fortunes for Lutterworth who were relegated to Division One of the Everards Leicestershire County Cricket League last season after being docked 300 points for fielding an ineligible player.
Their last appearance in the County Cup final in 2009 proved to be the first part of a league and cup double that year.
On Sunday at Coventry Road, captain Pickering won the toss and decided to put Kibworth into bat and the visitors reached 214-6 in their 40 overs. Alec Hill was the pick of the Lutterworth bowlers, taking two wickets off eight overs for 31 runs.
In reply it was a fine unbeaten century by Craig Wilson, who hit eight fours and six sixes on his way to 105 not out off 93 balls, that secured their place in the final with just two balls to spare.
The home side needed seven runs from the final over to win and skipper Pickering, who himself scored 43, told us: “It was a really tense finish and Craig won it for us really. He was batting at number three and took control of the game when he went out there.
“We’ve beaten two Premier League teams in the competition and it’s good to be playing sides from that level again after being relegated last season.
“That division is very competitive and the standard of cricket is really high and I’m delighted how the players have responded to the challenge.
“We’re all looking forward to Market Harborough at Grace Road and are pretty confident.”
Lutterworth are currently comfortably top of Division One as they bid to get straight back into the Premier League.
They have already played Market Harborough this season, losing to them in the quarter-final of the Challenge Cup.
1 Man arrested for murder after Rugby town centre death
2 David Tennant returns to RSC in Stratford
3 Tributes paid to TV auctioneer David Barby
4 One thousand new places by 2015 help schools cope
5 Parents dicing with death on the hard shoulder
THE successful Lewis siblings enjoyed further success when
Lutterworth Athletic 2 Wellingborough Whitworths 0 ATHLETIC started
BEES’ promoter Mick Horton has issued an apology
NEARLY three-and-a-half months on from their disappointing 3-1
FIVE-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan and world number one Neil ...
Westfields 0 Highgate United 2 HIGHGATE maintained their impressive start ...
JORDAN KING has ensured he will go into the British ...
IN HER first heptathlon since June 2012, following knee surgery, ...
