Sandridge back to winning ways

SANDRIDGE got back to winning ways with a hard fought but ultimately comfortable victory against fellow promotion challengers Southgate Compton.

Sandridge chose to bat first on a hot day and certainly planned to keep Compton in the field for as long as possible. However, an unimpressive start soon had those plans in disarray losing three early wickets.

Ian Merryfield batting at three ignored the collapse around him and found the boundary often with a mix of aggression and some excellent front foot driving.

He eventually went for 50 and this sparked a further mini collapse until Paul Rothery (42), well supported by Kevin Murphy and Dave Allen, kept the score ticking over.

Sandridge were eventually dismissed in the 53rd over for 166.

With the wicket taking some turn, skipper Lennie Peters was confident of defending his side’s sub-par total.

Peters and John Murphy opened the bowling. Murphy removed Compton’s big scorer third ball, well caught behind by Steve Thomas, and Peters removed his opening partner in the next over before he picked the third wicket and Murphy the forth with only 10 on the board.

Helped by excellent catches, Murphy finished with figures of 7-37, a really superb performance on a flat track.

Although Compton’s last pair hung around for a while, Duncan Ferguson proved to be too canny and took the final wicket.

Final score: Sandridge (166) beat Southgate Compton (105) by 61 runs.