MESSINGHAM romped home by 10 wickets against Cleethorpes in one of the shortest matches seen in the Grimsby Town CC/Grimsby Institute Knock Out for some years.

Having won the toss, the Scunthorpe side invited their opponents to bat, the Meggies starting steadily with Ed Carlton and Peter Fulton at the crease and Andy Langford and Danny Rands bowling.

After three overs, Cleethorpes had 25 on the board but in the next over, Rands trapped Carlton lbw.

This brought Bill Kirby to the crease and he and Fulton took the total to 43 before Fulton fell to a good catch by Tom McDougall off Rands, having hit 24 off 20 balls.

Jake Thorne took over from Rands and his first over brought another wicket, Yannif Judah caught behind by Cameron Fletcher to make it 57 for three at the half way stage, with no hint of what was to come.

Then Messingham introduced David Langford to the attack and the Cleethorpes innings collapsed. Langford's first over brought two wickets, Kirby caught behind for 20 and James Windeatt, well caught by Simon McInerney.

Langford's second over was even more devastating, sending three more batsmen back in the pavilion, one of whom skied a shot that the bowler caught.

And when Thorne struck again in his third over, it was left to Langford to take the final wicket as Cleethorpes were all out for 79 with three overs of the 16 still to be bowled.

Rands took two for 18 and Thorne two for 14, both off three overs, while Langford finished with six for 12 off just 21 balls.

McInerney and Jason Scheepers then opened for Messingham and made short work of the total, McInerney hitting 44 off 35 balls with one six and seven fours and Scheepers blasting 24 off 13 balls with a six and three fours, the winning runs coming in only the sixth over of the innings.

Langford's bowling performance earned him the Man of the Match award, which was presented by Grimsby Institute Executive Director Hugh Callaway.

Messingham are back at Augusta Street next week for their semi-final match against Grimsby Town.