ACLE finally managed a positive result after a winless period, taking 17 points in a winning draw at home to Topcroft in the Alliance Premier Division.

ACLE finally managed a positive result after a winless period, taking 17 points in a winning draw at home to Topcroft in the Alliance Premier Division. There followed a valiant defeat in the Carter Cup semi-finals.

This was a much better display and moved them back to fourth.

Opposing skipper Shipley elected to field on a drying surface but was soon rueing that decision as openers Porter and Munford raced off to a great start, putting 76 on in the first 18 overs before Porter (42) attempted one too many aerial shots and was caught at mid-on off Warburton.

A Munford (39) then took the role of aggressor before again falling to Warburton of a skier to deep square leg. Again, two people had got themselves in without going on and after two poor shots from Handley (12) and Short (0) Acle had slipped to 105-4.

With the innings in the balance Ward (18) and particularly Huggins (45) had to delicately re-build the innings, which enabled a few late lusty blows from Newman and P Munford to ease Acle to 203-8.

Topcroft played very sensibly, seeing off the opening spell from Newman and Rowe and reaching 42 before Hancock holed out for 17 off Grady. Gunawardene didn't last long, looping a dolly to Newman at gully off Grady: Topcroft 59-2.

They started to re-build with Baldwin providing support for Warburton and they reached 113 before Franks beat Warburton in the flight and he top-edged a sweep to short-third man for a valiant 57.

The retuning Newman quickly picked up both Baldwin and Shipley reducing Topcroft to 128-5 and it was now the case of whether Topcroft would reach a 90 per cent losing draw or Acle would bowl them out.

Neither happened. A couple of cameos from Rostron (20) and Goodfellow (23) were not quite enough while regular wickets falling was not quite enough for Acle.

They only had two balls to get the last man and settled for a 90 per cent winning draw and the lion's share of the points.

S A Mallett MoM: David Huggis for a sensible re-build of the innings at a vital time.

Acle put in a valiant performance at home to Swardeston in the semi-finals of the Carter Cup before falling to an excellent Swardeston team from the East Anglian Premier League.

Mark Thomas won the toss and decided to bat and Acle came out in front of a large home crowd fully pumped up to make an impression - and what a start they had.

Paul Newman produced an excellent opening spell, removing the dangerous Rob Newton first ball and Herathge soon after to leave the visitors 1-2 and fighting to hold off a rampant Acle.

Key man Jaden Hatwell came in and Acle were determined to attack him early. Grady came on first change and quickly removed Lambert (11) to keep the pressure on Swardeston at 33-3. And when Franks removed the dangerous Sims, Swardeston were 56-4 and Acle had a real opportunity to put pressure on their opponents. Rist came and went for 12 leaving Swardeston 85-5 just before lunch and Acle had comfortably won the first session.

Walker and Hatwell starting to score freely when two key moments came. A false shot from Walker fell half a yard from gully and then when Walker pushed for a quick single, Porter picked up the ball and missed the stumps by the tiniest of fractions when Hatwell was yards short.

Walker (55) and Hatwell, who scored an excellent century (101), went on to take the game away from Acle with a 90-run partnership to leave the visitors 176-6. Some late blows from both Tufts (29no) and Thomas (34) put the final nails in Acle's coffin taking Swardeston to a large total of 274-9 from 60 overs.

Eccles soon removed Porter (6) and even though A Munford (19) and Short (29) took Acle to 48 before the second wicket fell, they had lost their momentum and at tea were 63-2 from 30 overs. After tea with the run rate at around seven an over Acle tried to up their run rate but soon lost Short, Ward (6) and Handley (0) to regrettable shots to leave them 70-5.

Skipper P Munford (27) and Newman (23) set about an aggressive counter-attack and quickly put on 40 before Newman failed to clear the long on and was well pouched.

Munford quickly followed and this left the experienced Andy Franks (41) to play a sensible innings with the tail to take Acle to a respectable 178 all out with pride intact.

This was a great day and a good performance from the underdogs gave the Acle Barmy Army a cracking day. Thanks went to match sponsors Fred and Angela Colk who enjoyed the day with a barbecue.

MoM: Paul Newman for his excellent opening burst and aggressive counter-attack. Special mention to the returning Andy Franks.