BELTON had a dramatic Norfolk League Divison Two tie with Civil Service at the Common.Service inserted the hosts on a pitch freshened up by a morning showers.

BELTON had a dramatic Norfolk League Divison Two tie with Civil Service at the Common.

Service inserted the hosts on a pitch freshened up by a morning showers. Belton openers Toll and Day found the going difficult but had reached 29 in 12 overs before Day lofted one too many and was caught by Bales from the bowling of Futter. Toll was joined by Gerry Jackson and they began to make progress. The march to a respectable score was interrupted when Toll was forced to retire nursing a sprain but Adam Savoury and Jackson added careful runs to reach 76 - Jackson's 28 adding some impetus to proceedings.

In a match where injuries were to play a big part, Civil Service chipped in when Malin could not complete his first over and retired not to return. Savoury was joined by Saj Ali and they found the back-up bowling more to their liking. Ali went on to make a stylish 65 and Savoury's 14 held the innings together. Toll returned and was 32 not out at the end. A lightning 39 from Farhad Khan and two lusty fours from Knight saw Belton top the 200 mark for the first time this season with 216-6.

Cameron Nichols and Saj Ali took the new ball and B Collinson fell to a spectacular gully catch by Tom Knight. When Nicholl bowled Nicholls for seven and Ali dismissed Fisher and Sturgess Belton were looking forward to posting their first league win. At 78-5 T Karunatne had other ideas as he began to accelerate. He got good support from Bales (25) and Jayakmode (21) as the Belton bowling and fielding became more and more suspect. Finally the reintroduction of Nichols and Ali stemmed the flow but could not prevent the visitors from inching closer to the winning post. Gerald Jackson was brought on in a last-gasp measure and he bowled Karunatne (83) with the scores tied. The injury to Malin came back to haunt Civil Service and the home side escaped with a tie and the majority of the points.

In the process, Belton suffered no four injuries to fielders! The walking wounded just managed to survive long enough.

Nichols and Ali both took three wickets but Liam Peake's five overs for nine runs and Harry Chanchalani's four overs with a wicket near the end turned the tide.