ROYSTON gave their chances of avoiding the drop a massive boost after a home demolition of relegation rivals Burghley Park. The star of the show for Royston was Chris Hootton, 17, whose spell of 6-10 off seven overs destroyed the Burghley Park line-up.

ROYSTON gave their chances of avoiding the drop a massive boost after a home demolition of relegation rivals Burghley Park.

The star of the show for Royston was Chris Hootton, 17, whose spell of 6-10 off seven overs destroyed the Burghley Park line-up.

The visitors made a decent start, reaching 35-0 off 10 overs. It was the introduction of Hootton, though, that made the difference and within 16 overs Burghley Park were all out for just 52.

Hootton's figures would probably have been better had it not been for English Cricket Board rules which allow anyone aged 19 or under to only bowl seven-over spells.

As it was, just as he was getting into his stride, he had to end his session, with Richard Temple claiming both remaining wickets in the next over.

The Royston cause was helped by Burghley Park only having nine men to bat, with the unfortunate 10th man turning up just as the rest of the team had been dismissed and, therefore, being unable to bat.

In reply, Royston made light work of reaching their victory target in the 10th over, for the loss of just one wicket.

Team manager Richard Temple said: "It was definitely a bowler's wicket with quite a bit of variable bounce, but nearly all of the wickets that Chris took were all due to good bowling and bad batting.

"It's starting to look as if survival could well now be a realistic possibility.

"With four games to go, two wins will probably be enough as long as we can pick up decent bonus points in the other games.