Lawson praises Moon and Gribble after second wicket stand

JOHN Moon produced his highest Premier League score as Werrington trounced bottom side Grampound Road by 149 runs to move within nine points of leaders Penzance.

After choosing to bat, a patient opening stand between Adam Hodgson and Moon was ended when Hodgson was bowled by youngster Jake Harding-Byrne for 18, but Moon was joined for a 195-run stand with the in-form Mark Gribble, their second successive ton-plus partnership.

Gribble eventually departed for 83 when he was lbw to Sri Lankan pro Ravi Karunarathna, but that brought to the crease Thulina Dilshan and Paul Smith.

Moon kept on his merry way, making 158 from 147 balls with 12 fours and four sixes, but Dilshan thrashed 29 off just 12 and Smith an unbeaten 23 from just seven as they reached a hefty 335-4.

The Roadies were missing some key players including Antony Angove, and soon lost openers Harry Phillips (16) and Jake Preston (6) to Sam Hockin (2-55).

That became 34-3 when Dan Barnard bowled Harry Gregory for nought, but home skipper Tom Orpe and Ravi Karunarathna put on a rapid 65, the latter blazing 38 from just 22 balls before being caught and bowled by Mark Taskis.

From there on, the home side were unable to provide much momentum, and although Orpe mustered 57 and there were some starts from the rest, the end came in the 40th over for just 186 with Taskis (2-41) and Ben Smeeth (2-15) both getting reward.

On the victory, Werrington skipper Nick Lawson said: “We knew that Callington or Penzance were likely to drop points, so as long as we did our job we knew we’d gain on them. It was nice to follow up a really good win against Callington with another 20 points.

“It’s easy to go into these games having beaten the league leaders with a too relaxed attitude, but we put in a very professional performance.”

Lawson also praised man-of-the-match Moon and Gribble.

He said: “The way the Moony has been playing, he’s been due that score. He’s looked really good but probably hasn’t quite got the runs he’d like considering the amount he’s been scoring for Cornwall, and it was great that he went really big.

“As for Gribby, he just continued with he’s been doing and helped lay the platform which allowed Dilly and Smithy to come in at the end and whack it.”

Grampound Road had recently beaten St Austell and Helston at home, but Lawson felt in control.

“They’ve been very good at chasing recently, and in (Tom) Orpe and Ravi (Karunarathna) they’ve got two very dangerous players who can win you a game.

“They were going quite well together, but once we got Ravi out with less than 100 on the board, 335 looked a long way away and we were able to build pressure and the wickets fell off the back of that.”

Werrington are back at home this Saturday with a visit from Redruth (1pm).

Lawson concluded: “Redruth are a decent side and with Liam Norwell back as captain and to open the bowling, they’ll be a much tougher proposition than they were down there.

“They also beat us up here last year, so it’d be nice to put that right and keep the pressure up on the top three.”