ECB U17 Championship Huntingdonshire U17 (399 and 97-5) bt Lincolnshire U17 (249) on first innings. Hunts - 18pts Lincs - 9pts A MASTERFUL batting performance by Wayne Bradley saw Hunts all but clinch promotion in the ECB U17 Championship. Bradley s com

ECB U17 Championship

Huntingdonshire U17 (399 and 97-5) bt Lincolnshire U17 (249) on first innings.

Hunts - 18pts Lincs - 9pts

A MASTERFUL batting performance by Wayne Bradley saw Hunts all but clinch promotion in the ECB U17 Championship.

Bradley's commanding 84 in the middle of his side's first innings helped the visitors post an imposing 399 and virtually secure the league title.

Manager Hedley Swannell paid tribute to his team's all-round performance in Lincolnshire that means Hunts will be playing in Division Two North next season.

Hunts captain Michael Cafferkey won the toss for the third time in four matches and chose to bat on a friendly-looking wicket.

That proved the case as Cafferkey himself (61) and Ben Clement (76) made hay in their opening stand of 164 - Hunts' second-best ever at this level.

With the openers out, Alex Mitchell (44) and Tom Bishop (32) maintained the momentum, ensuring the visitors scored their maximum allocation of batting points for the loss of just four wickets.

Bradley came to the crease at number five and promptly followed up his 57 not out in Hunts' last fixture with a classy knock of 84, including 11 boundaries.

James Markland, Steven Brooks and Amar Hussain all reached double figures in the tail and Lincolnshire were faced with a 400 target off 100 overs.

Daniel Cliffe and Tom Dolby bagged two wickets apiece for the home side.

Home batsmen Pierce Morley-Barnes and Karanjit Bansal made a fist of the reply, but at a slow scoring rate.

As Lincs attempted to pick up the pace, wickets began to fall and the home side lost five middle order wickets for just 25 runs.

Hunts bowler Hussain was the man to do the damage, with figures of 4-38 - his second spell yielded three wickets at a cost of just seven runs.

Spin bowlers Sam Matcham (1-38) and Tom Bishop (2-47) played an important supporting role as the home side was dismissed for 249 - 150 runs short of the target.

With 16 overs remaining Huntingdonshire started the second innings looking for further batting points, but fell three runs short of the target.

Tom Bishop (31) and Bradley (46 not out) made a fist of boosting the points tally but Hunts players will be more than happy with their two day's work.