Orton Park maintain title challenge thanks to two centurions and happy Gilmour as Burghley Park stay top of Rutland Division One

The pair came together with the city side reeling at 29-2 against Long Sutton 2nds and promptly added 220 for the third wicket.

Morris finished unbeaten on 125 and Parnell made 108 as Orton Park closed their 45 overs on 261-4. The hosts crumbled to 79 all out in reply with Oli Calpin (4-9) doing the bulk of the damage for a side who are second, 31 points behind unbeaten Freiston, but with a game in hand.

The Division Two title pushes of Orton Park seconds and Castor both hit a bump in the road. The city side went down by two wickets to new leaders Skegness 2nds despite posting a decent score of 249-6, while Castor were skittled for 121 to complete a 31-run defeat at Royal Boston. Alfie Armstrong and Simon Brown had done their bit with the ball for Castor with three wickets apiece.

Newborough have moved to the top of the Championship after a smooth 5-wicket win over Grantham seconds. Tom Shipman was undefeated on 57 when ‘The Bulls’ reached their victory target of 184.

HUNTS LEAGUE

In Division Two second-placed Royal Strikers beat Stamford Town 2nds by four wickets after a solid team effort. They are two points behind leaders Ickwell who demolished Blunham by 228 runs.

Bretton climbed into mid-table after picking up a second win in a row. They saw off Sheikh 11 by 78 runs with Gulraiz Khan (79) and captain Mark Drake (5-19) delivering strong performances.

Nassington are up to fourth after a convincing 114-run win over Sawtry. Asif Ali (48) led a steady batting effort of 272-9 before Arbas Nawaz (5-29) undermined Sawtry’s reply.

Peterborough Town 3rds remain top of Division Three despite a six-wicket loss to fourth-placed Holme for whom Mike Walker struck 78 not out and Saiprasad Jammulapati made 52 not out. Sandeep Nana had contributed 74 of Town’s 211-9.

Bharat Sports 2nds are going well in Division Four. They made it five wins in six matches with a high-scoring 35-run win over Orton Park 3rds. Harsh Joshi smacked 143 from just 97 balls (17 4s, 7 sixes) in Bharat’s 302-7. Openers Shakil Hussain (87) and Salman Khan (52) did best in Orton’s reply of 267-6.

RUTLAND LEAGUE

Top two Burghley Park and Newborough were both successful in Division One. Park beat Oakham by 99 runs after a terrific all-round display from Ryan Gilmour (115 & 3-12) while Sam Jarvis finished unbeaten on 109 as Newborough completed a 5-wicket win at home to Werrington. Bilal Mushtaq made 85 of Werrington’s 222-9.

Pak Azad are third in Division Three after a 156-run hammering of Ketton Sports. Openers Sharoz Hussain (109) and Shakil Hussain (82) dominated Pak Azad’s 294-3.

Clive Evans (109no) was another Rutland centurion as third-placed Whittlesey made it six wins in seven matches in Division Four East. Whittlesey bashed Market Overton by 164 runs with Mark Jones (55) also in decent batting form in a team score of 250-5 before Stephen Palmer took 5-13 as the visitors were rushed out for just 86.