WERRINGTON bounced back from their six-wicket defeat at home to champions-elect Penzance by edging a thriller at home to old rivals St Just.

Adam Hodgson was the star of the show for the hosts with 76 and 3-50 although were a number of fine individual performances.

On a hot day at Ladycross, Werrington chose to bat and got off to a steady, if unspectacular start through John Moon and Ben Smeeth (19) before the latter was run-out following a mix-up at the end of the 19th over (71-1).

Werrington reached 91-1 at the halfway mark, before adding 170 in the final 25 overs.

Moon was run-out for 75 after being called through by Hodgson who then saw Dan Barnard (2) hole out after being sent in as a pinch-hitter.

Sri Lankan pro Thulina Dilshan made 16 before edging fellow countryman Chamikara Edirisinghe behind, but Hodgson then went through the gears and with cameos coming from Mark Gribble (23), George Rickard (11no off 10) and Ben Jenkin (11 off 5) and Nick Lawson (7no off 2) they reached a healthy 261-7.

While St Just were far from full strength, in opener Neil Curnow they have a man for the big occasion and he delivered in style with a superb 134.

Sam Hockin’s three overs with the new ball cost 31 as Curnow and Ellis May enjoyed the pace, but May was lbw for 12 on the sweep to Hodgson.

While the rest struggled, Curnow was playing on a different pitch, striking boundaries all around the ground, as he shared stands of 33 with Justin Stephens and 54 with Jamie Semmens (20).

Logan Curnow was bowled by Dilshan (2-44), but his dad continued on his merry way as Edirisinghe provided the perfect foil.

With 30 balls remaining St Just required 39 and although Edirisinghe was bowled by Hodgson, 13 came off the next five balls.

But the pivotal blow came in the next over when Curnow aimed a slog sweep off Smeeth and was bowled.

It meant 25 were needed off the last 21 deliveries, but St Just could only manage 15 as Werrington moved up to fifth, and are now just 15 points behind third-placed Helston who lost at Grampound Road.

Reflecting on the victory, Werrington skipper Nick Lawson said: “It was great to get another win even though we made hard work of it.

“The wicket was a lot better than the week before and it didn’t really change a great deal.

“We were delighted to get up to 260-odd thanks to some really good hitting at the end, but we knew it wouldn’t be easy as defending a score is never easy at Werrington.

“Credit to St Just for giving us such a good game considering they had several out, but it’s always good to get 19 points.”

He continued: “We’re now in a position where we’re in with a chance of finishing fourth and if we can get one or two wins then we have a chance.

“But we can go down to St Austell on Saturday without any pressure on us and just enjoy it.

“We’ve proved we can compete with pretty much everyone in this league, and it’d be great if we can to do the double over them on Saturday.”