Grimston Cricket Club defeat Save Village Cricket CC in final pre-season friendly

Grimston Cricket Club completed their pre-season preparations with a win against Save Village Cricket CC (SVC), in a two-innings match at Grimston Cricket Ground.

Founded by Ben Wilson, SVC aims to promote the recreational game and encourage new cricketers to come forward.

Their travelling squad included big names from cricketing social media including Lucy Jayne Rees (@ChangeTheOvers) and Chris Marshall from No Boundaries CC.

Grimston Cricket Club met Save Village Cricket CC in a friendly. Picture: Mark Affleck Photography

Having won the toss and elected to bat, Grimston captain Mark Tilbrook sent brother Andrew and father Tim to open the batting.

Tim was dismissed leg-before-wicket for five runs by Chris Marshall, and Andrew went on to score 30 before being caught-behind by Jon Campion from the bowling of Andy Saunders.

Captain Mark was the highest scorer of the innings, finishing on 65 not out.

SVC began their batting with Ceri Levy and LJ Rees both dismissed for 0.

Jon Campion and Ben Wilson put on a brave stand, with Wilson scoring an impressive 42 runs and Campion falling victim to Archie Ward with his first ball after returning from injury.

Josh Leverett-King also batted well, adding 10 runs to the tally.

Grimston began their second innings with Tim Tilbrook and Harry Ward, both retiring after hitting 30 and 31 runs respectively.

Isaac Abel, 12, scored a run on his senior debut, and Mark Pickering and Liam Woodcock added further runs.

For the final innings of the match, and with a mountain to climb, the man-mountain himself Dave Persey stepped up and delivered a herculean 51 runs from 40 balls.

However, despite useful contributions from Liam Burt (15 runs) and Chris Marshall (13 runs), SVC fell short of the required total.

Special mention for Isaac Abel who took the wicket of Liam Burt.

In a game where fun cricket came to the forefront, the teams finished in suitably amiable surroundings as both teams retired to The Three Horseshoes for a post-match roast.

Grimston are at home on Sunday with the bar opening from 1pm.