East Anglian Premier League Vauxhall Mallards (252-8 dec) beat Godmanchester (229) by 23 runs A FRAIL batting line-up left Godmanchester s title hopes all-but extinguished and saw them drop below their hosts in the EAPL table. Bevis Moynan s men were ju

East Anglian Premier League

Vauxhall Mallards (252-8 dec) beat Godmanchester (229) by 23 runs

A FRAIL batting line-up

left Godmanchester's title hopes all-but extinguished and saw them drop below their hosts in the EAPL table.

Bevis Moynan's men were just five balls away from securing a draw but when the captain was unluckily given out as caught, the game was up for Goddy.

Trevor Ward had been the man to dominate with the bat for the home side, scoring 69 runs as Mallards posted an imposing total of 252-8.

Moynan had won the toss and opted to put the Norwich-based side into bat and opening bowler Paul Swannell got stuck into the Mallards top order.

Swannell, Goddy's most successful bowler with 3-51, removed both opening batsmen in his initial 12-over spell, conceding just 25 runs from it.

However, Godmanchester were to pay for the amount of extras conceded - a massive 37 when compared to the home side's 10.

Spinners Praneeth Jayasundera and David McCallum took over from the openers, with off spinner McCallum particularly impressive in bowling 18 overs unchanged for just 26 runs.

Jayasundera was uncharacteristically expensive, though both spinners did claim two wickets.

The home side's seventh wicket partnership of 57 was their best and the hosts declared eight balls short of their maximum allocation with 10 batting points secured.

Ollie Huggins was first out for 18 in the Godmanchester reply, but patient batting from Matt Durrant (58) and Matt Pateman (60) saw the visitors post the best partnership of the match for the second wicket. The pair put on 96 as Goddy reached 113-1 at tea, seemingly on course for victory.

However, Pateman's dismissal after the interval let to a mini-collapse as Godmanchester succumbed to 147-5.

Paul Swannell and Adam Cousins both made 20s but the quick loss of three wickets left Mallards in the driving seat.

Pace bowler Martin Addison was the main man for the hosts, reeling off 18 overs unchanged as he took 4-47, while James Cowan claimed Moynan's final wicket with just five balls remaining.

Moynan admitted his late dismissal had been very frustrating, though his side are still in with a chance of securing their best-ever EAPL finish if they can defeat rivals Cambridge Granta at the weekend.