Market Deeping out of relegation zone after beating Bourne, Peterborough Town skipper's ton in vain, rapid win for Oundle, important wins for Barnack and Ramsey

Deeping beat neighbours Bourne by 6 wickets at Outgang Road last Saturday after making light work of a 50-over victory target of 269. The hosts had almost 15 overs to spare when securing victory.

Opener Josh Smith led the way with 111 from just 74 balls, an innings that included 14 fours and 5 sixes. Sam Jarvis contributed a more sedate 60 before Aasher Mehmood blasted an unbeaten 66 from 35 balls (5 sixes) to guide Deeping home.

Bourne’s 268-9 was built around steady contributions all the way down the batting order after opener Sam Evison had cracked 52 from just 32 deliveries.

Deeping, who have signed up England T20 international Pat Brown for the rest of the season, have another big game this Saturday when visiting local rivals and fellow strugglers Spalding.

Spalding went down by 4 wickets at reigning champions Scunthorpe despite 72 from Joe Manton and 4 wickets for Aussie leg spinner Walter Kinlock. Brown, who developed his cricket at Deeping, will play when his commitments with Derbyshire and with the Northern Superchargers in ‘The Hundred’ allow.

Ryan Gilmour struck 108 for Burghley Park, but his side went down by 3 wickets at Woodhall Spa.

There was another century for another Josh Smith, but the stand-in Peterborough Town skipper was on the losing side in a Northants Premier Division game at Kislingbury Temperance.

Town looked set to maintain contact with leaders Finedon when reducing their hosts to 43-4 in pursuit of 254-6. Smith (122no) had dominated the city side’s innings with his third century of the season. He now has 735 runs at an average in excess of 90 – over 200 runs more than any other player – but yet another Smith, current Northants batting coach and former Derbyshire and Essex first-class player Greg, delivered a match-winning unbeaten 106 for Kislingbury during an unbroken fifth wicket stand of 215 with Zaakir Khawaja.

Town have now lost 3 top-flight games this season, all against teams currently in the bottom four. They take on a Stony Stratford side bolstered by Somerset CCC legend James Hildreth at Bretton Gate on Saturday (11am).

Oundle Town took advantage of the slip by local rivals to jump into second, but both have over 30 points to make up on Finedon. Oundle demolished Old Northamptonians by 9 wickets in a match that lasted a little over 32 overs. Brothers Harrison Craig (5-12) and Conor Craig (4-30) did the damage as the hosts were shot out for just 86, a total Oundle, who host Kislingbury on Saturday, passed in under 9 overs.

MIchael Cafferkey (51 & 3-18) was the star man as Ramsey beat Cambridge St Giles by 61 runs to move up to second in Cambs Division One and Barnack have closed the gap on the leaders in Division Three after a resounding 163-run local derby win at Ufford Park. Asim Butt led the Barnack charge to 260-7 with an unbeaten 122.

Barnack are third, but top two March Town and Cambourne, who play each other on Saturday, both lost leaving the local villagers just 13 points off top spot.