Grove are in the groove as they easily defeat Woore

KIDSGROVE seconds’ batsmen hit top form to power past Woore 2nd XI in NSSCL Division Six.

- Chris Travers

Grove rattled up an eye-watering 377-6 from their 40 overs - believed to be a divisional record - in Saturday's opening match of the season.

The hosts saw Dan Archer lead the run-scoring spree with a rapid 136, which came off 81 balls and contained 15 fours and seven sixes.

Shaik Fareed fell agonisingly short of a century, being dismissed for 98 having struck eight fours and the same number of sixes.

And the runs didn’t stop flowing as Lea Prince (31), Jack Wilkinson (29) and Lewis Green (26no) ensured that Grove powered their way to formidable total.

Iliana Chatzigeorgiou picked up a couple of wickets for Woore.

The visitors had no chance of knocking off the runs in reply, but to their credit they did manage to bat out their 40 overs.

Woore finished on 149-7, in which Isaac Vacara scored 57, which featured 11 boundaries.

Chris Gater chipped in with 22 not out, while Hugh Binns and Archer both helped themselves to a couple of wickets.

Stafford thirds were also in clinical form to win on their visit to Blythe seconds.

Stafford put themselves firmly in control of the meeting after piling up 229-8 from their allocation.