Fleming hails gutsy victory (From Maldon and Burnham Standard)

Fleming hails gutsy victory

4:44pm Thursday 2nd July 2009

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MALDON hero Luke Fleming hailed the character in his side after their ‘gutsy’ win at Brightlingsea.

Having posted a score of just 116, the men from Drapers Farm showed their class by skittling the coastal side for 100.

Fleming was one of the stars, claiming five wickets for 43 runs, and the victory means Maldon are sailing away at the top of Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship division two, 27 points ahead of nearest challengers Woolpit.

Australian Fleming told the Standard: “It was a real gutsy win which speaks volumes for the character in our side.

“It’s always good to win close, low-scoring games and we hung in there and put pressure on Brightlingsea.

“The wicket was keeping very low and we knew we had to bowl well to defend our score of 116.

“We needed to claim early wickets and then managed to take the others pretty consistently throughout the innings.

“In the end, it was a case of pulling a result out of the bag and the fact we were able to do that shows the belief in our side.

“Things are going really well and hopefully it’ll continue for as long as possible.”

The victory was Maldon’s tenth of the season and, in addition to Fleming, they were indebted to Ian Elliott, who returned figures of four for 13.

They visit Haverhill in their next Two Counties match on Saturday.

Fleming had a weekend to remember.

In addition to his five wickets against Brightlingsea, swelling his number of Two Counties victims to 28, he then blasted 78 in Sunday’s PDQ Cars North Essex League premier division win against leaders Clacton.

Elliott’s 50 helped the mid-Essex side post 253 for seven, before the Seasiders were dismissed for 183, meaning Maldon won by 70 runs.

Elliott also returned bowling figures of four for 38.

“I was happy with my knock and enjoy opening the batting on a Sunday,” said Fleming.

“I’ve managed a few runs so far, getting a century, a 90 and an 80.

“To get another decent score in such an important game was great but full credit goes to Ian, who did a fantastic job with both bat and ball.

“We’re mid-table and there’s room for improvement.

“We’ve got a lot of young players and some people can’t commit to playing every week, but a result like this shows what we’re capable of on our day.”

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