Ahmed sets up Ifield for four-wicket victory

Jack Groves won the toss and elected to bowl first in damp conditions after a 90-minute delay.

St James Montefiore started well enough and put on 28 for the first wicket followed by a further 51 for the second and at 79 for 2 after 13 overs.

They were reasonably well set for a score of around 140 but they started losing wickets at regular intervals as the Ifield bowlers and fielders gradually got on top and scoring became more and more difficult.

Mahad Ahmed picked up three wickets for 22 and there were three run outs as the innings finished on 122 for 8 after 20 overs with Michael Gould top scoring with 44.

In response, Ifield lost the early wickets of Dan Smith and Mike Norris in their run-chase but Joe Cooke and Dinesh Salunkhe batted sensibly and took the score to 80 before Salunkhe was caught for 30.

Jack Groves and Cooke continued the good work but both departed with just a handful of runs needed and although there were a few slightly nervous moments successive boundaries from Paul Clifford took Ifield into the last over needing just four runs and Ahmed clipped the second delivery for four to secure victory.

Cooke topscored for Ifield with 41.

Ifield travel to Ansty this Saturday followed on the Sunday by their game in hand against Guernsey and they remain very much in the mix as the league season reaches its climax.

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