Meir Heath hold their nerve in tense finish

THE inclusion of Leicestershire head coach Alfonso Thomas couldn’t quite help Sandon as they lost narrowly to Meir Heath in their NSSCL Division Five clash.

- Chris Travers

Thomas, who played club cricket for Longton as well as representing Staffordshire, enjoyed an excellent pro career with the likes of Warwickshire and Somerset, before being taking on the top job at Leicestershire.

He agreed to turn out for Sandon by a friend for a game, but couldn’t prevent them from suffering a five-run defeat.

Meir Heath managed to find their way to 203-7 from their 40 overs in the first half of the afternoon.

Chris Gallimore’s 73, which contained 12 fours, underpinned Meir Heath's batting effort.

And support was plentiful with Aqib Ali (44), Imran Khan (29) and Hassan Ali (23no) all playing their part.

Sajith Jayaweera picked up 3-37 for the home side, with Steve Greatholder chipping in with a couple of wickets.

In reply, Thomas contributed 31, but although Greatholder (36), Nathan Millington (26), Richard Whitehead (24) and Nishad Shamsudeen (21) all chipped in, Sandon were bowled out for 198.

Muhammed Waseem helped himself to 3-31 and there were a couple of victims for Aqib Ali.

Rode Park & Lawton seconds are 23 points clear at the top after winning at home against Leycett 2nd XI.