Royston win moves them to top of table

ROYSTON’S fine run of form continued with a solid victory over Sawston, up at Therfield, that saw them move to the top of the league table.

With the weather forecast predicting rain during the afternoon Royston skipper Paul Harris, having won the toss, decided to bowl first.

Sawston got off to a steady start, looking to see off the threatening Richard Temple (10-3-14-3) who was bowling with pace and aggression.

Benson eventually succumbed to the pressure though and edged behind with the score on 46-1.

Benson’s dismissal seemed to expose an end and wickets began to fall as Royston began to pile the pressure on. With the score on 90-5, Chris Lang began to chance his arm, countering the Royston pressure with some lusty blows.

The introduction of Harris into the attack saw Lang hole out for 26 and this prompted the rounding up of the lower order batsmen, Harris ending with four wickets to his name. On the last ball of the innings, a run out provided by wicketkeeper Rory Harper saw Sawston’s final wicket fall, with the score on 144.

In reply, Royston got off to an uneasy start as the wickets of Mick Miller and Josh Holmes fell in quick succession, the latter being cleaned up for a golden duck.

Martin Leary and Paul Miller looked to rebuild the innings though and soon the runs were flowing with relative ease as the pair put on a vital partnership of 91 runs for the third wicket.

With the rain clouds closing in, Royston needed to up the run rate in order to secure the win and Leary was subsequently bowled for 42.

Paul Miller continued on in style though, ruthlessly dispatching the Sawston bowlers to all parts of the ground, ending with an entertaining 77 not out, his eighth half-century of the season.

Royston sailed past Sawston’s total with 14 overs to spare and six wickets in hand. The victory sees The Crows overtake Haslingfield to go 12 points clear at the top of the table.

Following the win, skipper Harris said: “We didn’t bowl as well as we usually do and let them have far too many extras, which is certainly something that we must eradicate for next week.

“Having said that, we still restricted them to a well below-par score. Then despite the loss of a couple of early wickets, we remained calm and batted sensibly to chase the runs down.

“I’m thrilled with the win and delighted that we’ve moved to the top of the table.”

Final score: Sawston 3rds (144) lost to Royston (148-4) by six wickets.

On Saturday Royston play host to Ashdon and will look to increase the gap between themselves and second place.