Wootton finally catch fire to end rival's winning run

WOOTTON moved 49 points clear of the Division Three A trap door with a hard fought 18-run victory over Endon.

Clem Mellor's 58 runs, figures of 6-79 from James Carr and an impressive all-round fielding display helped earn Wotton 20 points against the in-form home side.

With Wootton skipper Sid Barker unavailable, vice-captain Matt Richardson lost the toss and his side were put in to bat on a wicket that favoured the bowling side.

Tom Leese and Alistair Little were made to work hard as Kevin Cockerton and Michael Dawson made use of the elements with some good swing and seam bowling. Little (3) fell with the score on just 16 and his wicket sparked a mini-collapse in the top order.

George Avery, Paul Milward, Thomas Leese and S Jilbert all fell in quick succession as the score slipped to 34-5. Only Mellor remained solid and kept chipping away at any loose delivery.

Mellor was helped by skipper Richardson who quickly got on top of the bowling with some unorthodox shots – and suddenly the momentum had swung to the visitors.

Mellor and Richardson made use of some small boundaries and good running between the wickets. They put on 48 runs before Richardson (37) fell.

Peter Carr came to the wicket and continued in the same manner. He hit consecutive maximums off Cockerton in a quick-fire 22. Mellor continued with a flurry of cover drives and with help from Phil Bagshaw (10) the side reached a respectable 156 all out.

Mellor finished with 58 priceless runs while Dawson posted 4-57.

In reply Wootton were sharp in the field – in contrast to their display seven days earlier against Oakamoor. James Carr made use of the extra bounce with another devastating display of pace and was backed up by Milward.

Endon openers Matt Colclough and John Powell looked uneasy against the short ball and Carr soon had them back in the pavilion. The dismissals brought dangerman Cockerton to the crease and he looked to play some shots before he holed out to Millward at long-off thanks to a superb catch from Jilbert.

The momentum was with Wootton and fine catches from Avery, Jilbert, Richardson and Leese pegged the visitors back to 88-6. Skipper Dawson pushed hard for a second run off Carr and was run out by Milward.

Gibson (26) kept the home team in the hunt and the game was finely balanced before Bagshaw and Carr finished off the tail.

Skipper Richardson was full of praise for the way his team had performed. He said: "The response from the players was fantastic – the catches all went to hand. We needed that after Clem Mellor had batted us into a strong position, while James Carr has been unbelievable all season. We can win games in this league and we want to continue with our good run."

For Endon, Saturday's result marked the end of their winning run. Skipper Mick Dawson said: "We went in with three wins out of the last four and were looking at making it four out of five. We bowled them out for 156 and felt in a really strong position to do that. We were a couple of batsmen short but even so we should have knocked them off.

"We just couldn't put any sort of partnership together. It's a confidence thing. We've just got to start believing a bit more in ourselves. A few people in the team have lost confidence.

"Whether batting at number eight or not bowling, players still have a job to do for the team."