Louth to face Caistor for a place in semis

FENNER and Nettleham showed the way – and tonight neighbours Louth and Caistor will hope to follow their big-hitting example when they make their first appearances in the Grimsby Town CC/Grimsby Institute Knock Out.

Louth, who are gradually climbing the Lincolnshire ECB Premier League table having overcome a poor start to the season, won an exciting match in last year's competition to progress to the second round and this evening sees the return of bowler Jonathan Darke, who was one of the heroes of that match.

Louth will be without Arran Brindle, who is recovering from a broken thumb, and will be led by Graeme Bell.

Among the players are opener Matthew Crowther and up-and-coming youngster Joe Irving, while a new face is Seth Rance, over here from New Zealand as Louth's overseas player for 2010.

Rance has slowly increased his haul of wickets since his arrival culminating in a "five-for" in Louth's surprise defeat of league leaders Bracebridge Heath.

At Caistor, Sri Lankan Sahan Wijerathne has returned for a second year, this time as vice-captain to Peter Briggs, and is the mainstay of a side that is fighting for an instant return to the ECB Premier League after being demoted at the end of 2009.

In the last two weeks, Wijerathne has hit 70 in the league and a century in the George Marshall Cup as well as contributing with the ball.

Alongside him are some more familiar knock-out names including James France, Paul Dimbleby, Harry Boulton and Mark Gowshall. And keeping wicket for Caistor is Nick Dobbs, son of the former county wicketkeeper Nigel.

The match starts at 6.15pm and the winners will go through to play Fenner in the semi-final on July 19.

Louth: G Bell (captain), S Rance, J Irving, M Hamilton, J Darke, J Collinson, D Chambers, Z Ahmed, J Medler, L Scott, M Roberts.

Caistor: from P Briggs (capt), S Wijerathne, H Boulton, J France, R Farrow, M Gowshall, S Indian, L Jefferson, J Smith, N Warmoth, L Wood, J Parker, N Dobbs, T Borysczcuk.