Watson leads Worlington to victory after a quartet of wickets fall early

MARSHALL HATCHICK

TWO COUNTIES

CHAMPIONSHIP

DIVISION ONE

Worlington 285 beat

Elmstead 197 by 88 runs

Joint table-toppers Worlington won Saturday’s battle of the unbeaten teams as they overcame Elmstead by a hefty margin.

While in Worlington’s previous two outings the returning Tom Osborn had taken on the century-scoring mantle, on this occasion Jimmy Watson rose to the fore with a knock of 134 after the hosts had made a slow start.

Losing the toss, Worlington were inserted into bat and made the worst possible start, losing Graham Ford first ball of the match off the bowling of Ashan Athurkoralage.

He followed up by removing Osborn for seven, followed by Richard Ford and Chris Baugh to leave the home side in trouble at 38-4.

However, Watson, joined by Daren Hayward, set about recovering the Worlington innings and the pair duly delivered, with Hayward particularly aggressive.

The pair shared a fifth-wicket stand of 135, before Hayward was bowled by Dan White for 72.

Watson went on to share stands of 49 with Ziaf Kulasi (22) and 35 with Steve Flack going beyond three figures in the process.

Watson finally fell for 134 — a knock comprising 13 fours and five maximums.

The tail also added vital runs as the last wicket fell off the final ball with Worlington closing on 285.

After tea, Cody Golding struck early trapping Jon Butcher lbw for four.

The Kiwi was also next to strike, this time dismissing Elmstead’s new signing Ryan Vickery (22).

Ziaf Kulasi (2-39) took the next wickets to fall, including a sharply taken caught and bowled effort from Jordan Elliott (39).

From there on, Elmstead’s White continued to see wickets fall from the opposite end, as Graham Downey’s 10-over spell brought him four wickets at a cost of just 34 runs.

White (69) himself was the final wicket to fall, caught by Watson off the bowling of Flack to seal the win.

On Saturday, unbeaten Worly host Wivenhoe, who currently occupy fourth position (1pm).

n A second-wicket stand of 267 from Matt Peachey (122no) and Ian Roberts (139no) saw Worlington II thrash Tendering by 166 runs.

n Worlington Academy made it a clean sweep for the weekend with a 42-run win at Risby.

Worlington posted 186 all out (Freddy Gallagher 42, Shaun Lister 40) and Brian Cole’s 4-48 helped dismiss Risby for 144.

n On Sunday, Worlington are away to Great Waltham in the opening round of the National Village Cup (1pm).