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Uttoxeter completed a good victory over a strong Barton side with a very good all round team performance.

Captain Walmsley won the toss and elected to field first on what he hoped would be a lively wicket after the week of rain.

The wicket didn’t disappoint and the bowlers got the side off to a good start severely restricting the Barton scoring rate. Skelham (1-47) was the 1st to strike, bowling a ball which just nipped away and caught the edge of Melidoni’s bat, Cottier the produce some acrobatics in the slips to take an excellent low one handed catch low to his right.

The rest of the bowlers were also doing a good job in both keeping the runs done and chipping away at the wickets. Ash Young nipped out the next 3 batsman after bowling an excellent spell, finishing with figures of 3-34.  Cottier (2-23) yet again bowled a great line and the batsman found him very hard to get away and he picking up 2 wickets, one a fine catch from Bailey in the slips and the next was another great catch this time it was Walmsley who produced the acrobatics in the covers. Walmsley (1-23) and Hunt (1-31) also both bowled tight lines and picked up a wicket a piece.

The performance was a strong one in the field and by restricting Barton to just 159 Uttoxeter felt they had a good chance of chasing the runs downs.

The batting however got off to a very slow start and with the early loss of Rob Birch (0) who top edged the impressive looking Ware to the keeper and the pitch still favouring the bowlers it was not going to be a simple run chase.

Browne (5) was looking good and starting to steady the ship before missing a straight one and seeing his stumps scattered across the ground. The left Bailey and Pete Atwell at the crease both who were looking good, Bailey (22) playing with his usual flamboyance hitting a couple of huge 6s! Atwell was doing a great job at the other end, keeping the score ticking while also chipping in with a couple of big hits of his own.

Baileys eyes lit up once too often and was cleaned up by a slower ball from Humpbridge. Wheeldon joined Atwell and again looked in good form before he got one that lifted slightly more than expected and edged Phillips to the keeper.

Mellor (21) looked in good form and played a solid knock and he was the one to anchor the innings once Atwell had been dismissed for an excellent 23. Dave Hunt joined Mellor and both made sure the game was safe by playing very sensibly, ticking the score over and putting the bad ball away.

Hunt brought the game to within touching distance of the home side by taking 20 off a Dean over and when Mellor was bowled Cottier and Hunt (29*) only had 30 to get off 8 overs. Once Cottier (21*) had got used the pitch he sealed the victory in style playing some lovely shots through the covers and 2 big hits over mid wickets to seal the win with more than 3 overs to spare.

The win has left the racecourse club right in the promotion hunt with the league extremely tight and with fellow promotion chasers Spondon up next it promises to be another exciting weekend.