WERRINGTON skipper Nick Lawson admits ‘I’m running out of things to say about him’ as Mark Gribble continued his sensational summer with an unbeaten 102 in their nine-wicket victory over St Austell on Saturday.

The Tron moved back up to third in the ECB Cornwall Premier League as they chased down the Saints’ 174 with ease.

St Austell – battling for their top-flight lives – won the toss and chose to bat at Ladycross, but Sam Hockin (2-35) had Rowen Taplin caught at point by Thulina Dilshan for nought before the same bowler trapped Connor Cooke lbw (31-2).

Adam Snowdon (13) soon fell when he top-edged a Dan Barnard delivery to Dilshan, and although Alex Bone looked good for his 18, he was adjudged lbw to Billy Uglow (80-4).

From there on, the Saints took control as Nadeera Balasuriya (55 off 42) and Gianluca Longo (35 off 23) took on Mark Taskis and Uglow, however Longo fell to Hodgson via a fine one-handed caught and bowled.

Balasuriya fell soon after when he reverse swept a chance to John Moon at short third-man, and from there the visitors collapsed in a heap to 174 all out as Hodgson (3-8 off 7) and Ben Smeeth (2-24) shared five wickets. Dilshan struck with his second ball to dismiss last man Liam Watson.

Watson bowled Moon for a fourth ball duck in the first over of the reply, but needing just 3.5 to the over, the hosts were able to cruise to victory.

The Saints had a couple of strong lbw appeals turned down by the umpires, but bar that Smeeth – opening in place of Hodgson – and Gribble patiently whittled away at the target, reaching it in the 42nd over.

Smeeth made 67 not out from 112 balls with eight fours, while Gribble was slightly more aggressive, timing his innings to perfection to end the match with a boundary which also brought up his century from 130 balls.

A delighted Lawson said: “It was a great win. We started off in a similar way to at Penzance the week before, but whereas they were able to gradually build a partnership and then later on take the game away from us, this time we were able to battle back in the middle.

“When Bone and Balasuriya and then Longo were going well we said about the importance of breaking those partnerships as soon as possible, and thankfully we were able to do that. To restrict them to just 170-odd was a superb effort.”

He also had his say on Gribble who reached 700 league runs for the season at a remarkable average of exactly 100.

“Then with the bat I’m just running out of good things really to say about Gribby. He’s just scoring runs for fun at the moment. It was also great to see Ben back doing what he does. They batted really well.”

Werrington visit mid-table Camborne on Saturday (1pm), a venue they often find tough.

He continued: “It’s never an easy game down there, they’re good at home and it’s often a bit of a scrappy wicket.

“Although they’ve not always been in our league, we’ve struggled down there. We’ve only lost once at home this year, but it’d be great to go down there and get our away form going in a similar manner.”