Horncastle's Sunday side keep pressure on with win at Harlaxton

​With the club’s Saturday side enjoying a free week, attention instead turned to the following day as Horncastle won to stay in third place, eight points behind second-placed Gully Cricketers who have two games in hand.

Sunday saw the home side win the toss and opt to bat first, but they lost opener Vijay Mishra as Tom Hackett had him caught by Fraser Pemberton.

Alex Kettle (29) played some nice looking shots but fell to the same fate as his opening partner and was caught, this time by Finn Fisher and again off Hackett’s bowling.

Kartik Sivakumar was soon out lbw to Aaron Bruce, and Harlaxton skipper Sam Bicknell (18) hit three fours before being bounced out by Fisher and caught behind by Jonathan Clark.

Wickets then fell at a regular pace with only Adam Parker (13) making it to double figures but thanks to the 24 extras Harlaxton finished 111 all out.

Hackett was the top wicket taker for Horncastle with 3-28, while there were two each for Bruce, Richard Hickling and George Brewster to go with the one from Fisher.

Harlaxton came out to make Horncastle work for the 112 runs they required and that they did with Parker (4-36) taking a wicket in the first over of Liam Evans for a duck put them on the back foot.

Horncastle dug in for a little while until they took on the arm of Kettle for a single who released a rocket, hitting middle stump and running out the other opener Clark (9).

Horncastle’s number three Pemberton (60no), however, stayed cool as the other wickets fell around him and the visitors got to the target six wickets down, Hickling the only other batsman to make double figures with 14.

The Sunday side next go to Heckington this weekend.

The Saturday side return to action in the third division of the Lincolnshire League as they go to fourth-placed Caistor.

Horncastle are second in the table behind Cleethorpes who are 25 points clear.