Focus on local cricket

ACLE continued their run of positive results in the Norfolk Alliance Premier Division with a winning draw against Lowestoft at Bridewell Lane.

Acle decided to bat first but Lowestoft started positively, Scott catching Porter in the Gully for 12, and then Reid dismissed Nobbs for nought. With the score on 18 for two, Acle had some rebuilding to do.

Haydn Murray and Adam Munford at first steadied the ship before putting the Lowestoft bowlers to the sword. Murray was particularly prolific, and treated the watching Acle crowd to some delightful stroke play. Munford then departed, caught by Reid of the bowling of Simms for 48. Geoff Handley (22) and Paul Newman (24) added some valuable runs down the order, but it was Murray who stole the show with an outstanding 101.

The home side finished on 246-9 from their 50 overs.

Acle made an early breakthrough in the Lowestoft innings, with Grady removing captain Peter Simms for nought, but Avontuur and Patnell put on 90 for the next wicket. But when Avontuur was caught and bowled by Murray with the run rate increasing to over six an over, Acle began to take wickets.

Paul Newman, Murray and young Tom Nudd all picked up further wickets, but wily left-armer Rob Porter was the pick, taking 3-36 from 10 overs.

With Lowestoft nine down, Nudd had only one delivery at the No 11 and was unable to make the breakthrough that would have rewarded the home side with 25 points. Acle had to settle for a winning draw and 18 points and remain in second place with two very tough games to play, starting at Brooke.

MoM: Haydn Murray.

HALVERGATE guaranteed a top two finish with a nine-run victory over third-placed Cromer A in Norfolk Alliance Division Five.

Halvergate were asked to bat first and Cromer not only restricted them to 17 from the first 10 overs but also took two wickets. Steve Cooke and Scott Foreman looked to rebuild the innings and had taken the score to 75 after 21 overs when Foreman was bowled for 35. Kelvin London joined Cooke and they had almost brought up the 100 when the both fell in consecutive overs. London was disappointed to be judged lbw for 18 and Cooke was a little unfortunate to be caught for 31.

Pat Hill and Tim Armstrong added another 25 runs but when Hill fell for 12 the Halvergate innings was in danger of collapsing. With only seven overs remaining it as if a below-par score of 160 would be all they could manage. But Armstrong suddenly found his touch and took the game to the visitors. He raced to his half-century in short time and had hit nine fours and a six when he was caught in the deep for 51. The Hares reached 189-8.

Cromer went on the attack and a series of big shots from N Bond saw them rush to 61 from 10 overs helped by a couple of dropped chances.

Halvergate decided to take the pace off the ball and turned to Simon Brister and Kelvin London. This brought immediate rewards as a wicket apiece saw both openers fall to catches in the deep. The pair continued to take regular wickets and dragged the match back in the Hares' favour. After 33 overs Cromer had reached 127 but for the loss of nine wickets, all of which had fallen to the spin twins, London taking 4-18 and Brister 3-57.

In an excellent eighth-wicket partnership of 65, Cromer advanced to 175 but there was one last twist in the tale when Tom Booth dismissed K Neale for 24, which opened up one end. Tim Crane struck again in the next over and then Booth wrapped up the innings when he bowled the last batsman. Cromer fell nine runs short of their target and their captain, who had batted well for his 36 not out, was left high and dry.

The Hares will be looking to secure the title tomorrow at Rocklands.

Eden Resourcing MoM: Jointly awarded to Tim Armstrong for his exciting innings of 51 and Kelvin London for a superb 12-over spell of four for 18.

ROLLESBY visited Shipdham for their final away match of their Norfolk League Division One campaign and were surprisingly invited to bat first on what looked a good track.

This decision appeared to pay early dividends for the home side, as both Browning (2) and Chaney (1) departed cheaply with only 20 on the board. With a slightly weaker batting line-up than usual, this could have been a problem, but skipper Duxbury was in fine form and with able support from E Roffey, consolidated and then began to pile on the runs.

Despite giving a couple of chances, Duxbury continued to score runs all round the wicket. Duxbury completed his maiden century on 108 not out and was followed by Roffey scoring 58 for his maiden 50 for the first team. The pair couldn't quite get the total past the 200 mark, but reached a highly creditable 194 for two from 45 overs.

D Cook and J Flett made life difficult for the Shipdham openers and when Hammond was bowled by Cook, the home side look a millions miles from reaching the total.

Steggles and Ellis survived a few early scares and then began to counter-attack. Skipper Duxbury tried everything before turning to golden arm S Alger, who quickly dismissed Steggles for 63 with the score 149 for two.

The returning Cook soon accounted for Milne (1). While Ellis was at the crease, the home side were still big favourites, but when he was caught in the deep off J Flett for 78, the score was 180 and Rollesby still had a glimmer.

Dodd (13), Hunt (7) and Riches (5), took the home side within touching distance of victory, but fell to the guile of S Alger. With the scores tied, Rollesby were looking for a miracle, and two wickets in two balls kept the match alive into the final over.

But a four from Friend saw the home side home and meant heartbreak once again for Rollesby, with another close one going the wrong way. This was a good performance, but again Rollesby were unable to force home the advantage and were left thinking what might have been.

Filby King's Head MoM: M Duxbury (108no maiden century).

BELTON entertained Aylsham on Saturday at the Common and ran out winners by 33 runs in Norfolk League Division Two.

Making first use of a fine Southtown wicket, Belton were led by opener Steve Day (30) and Barry Viswal (79). At 125-5 from 25 the innings was in danger of faltering but good late order support was given by Cameron Nichols (25), Mark Hodds (11) and Adam Savoury (11) enabling the home side to reach 215 for 9 from 45 overs. R Bingham took four for 46 for the visitors.

Aylsham were led by 46 from opener R Bingham but lost wickets regularly. At 120-5 from 27 they were already behind the asking rate and Cameron Nichols and Saj Ali ensured they stayed there.

Nichols took four important wickets for 43 runs from his 11 overs and Ali chipped in with 2-33 from 10 - including a spectacular caught and bowled to dismiss P Minns for 18. For once the support bowling was up to the task as Tom Knight and Gary Warner both took a wicket. With the run out of Jeremy Cocks for nought the writing was on the wall as Aylsham stumbled to 182 all out in 42 overs.

MARTHAM beat Norfolk League Division Four visitors Norwich & Coltishall which put them into third place, something the whole club can be proud of considering this season's problems.

Martham elected to bat. After losing their openers cheaply, Collins joined Sayer and the two steadied the ship. Sayer went for 13 and then Spencer and Collins put together a 100 partnership until Collins was run out after scoring a very good 39.

Beckett then carried on his brilliant scoring run with Spencer until Spencer was caught for a solid 43. Beckett then attacked the bowling assisted by Dunn and Randall until he was caught for a good 57 to make a total of over 300 runs in his last four innings, showing wonderful consistency.

Martham closed with a very solid 223 for eight.

The visitors made a solid reply scoring over 40 for the first wicket, but sharp fielding by Martham made sure they were always behind the run rate required. Truman 38 and Allen 37 gave Coltishall some hope but very tight bowling by Randall ,Dunn and Sayer eventually ended the innings for 178, 45 short of the Martham total.

A ROLLESBY A side greatly affected by call-offs and injuries put up a sterling performance in a two-wicket defeat to Frettenham at the RCG in Norfolk League Division Six.

Rollesby elected to bat. Against a tight attack Price and Johnny Payne (10) progressed cautiously before Payne was well caught and bowled. The second wicket partnership between Price and Jimmy Catchpole again progressed slowly before Price (16) was also caught and bowled in the 27th over. Following the previous week's heroics by Oscar Gerdes, he was bowled second ball for a duck. Catchpole (69) and Roy Websdale (48) then began to accelerate pushing the score towards 160 before both were out trying to force the pace. Rollesby finished on 161-6.

The Frettenham innings began in a frantic fashion with 12 runs and three wickets falling in the first three overs; Roy Websdale taking two wickets and George Barnden removing a threatening Moggan.

Trevor Eady was the dropped of the first ball he received and went on to thrash 44 runs very quickly to put Frettenham in the driving seat. Together with his skipper Eady put on nearly 100 runs for the fourth wicket.

A piece of inspirational captaincy changed the game. John Thackray was introduced, and his slow left arm spin deceived Eady as he went for one big shot too many. Barnden then bowled D Websdale; Peter Websdale was run out and things looked to have turned Rollesby's way. Skipper Price the brought himself on and removed Peter Davison for an excellent 63 and M Wade for a duck, leaving Frettenham to score five runs to win with one wicket left.

Unfortunately for Rollesby the first two balls of Gerdes eighth over were sent to the boundary, giving Frettenham a close win from an exciting game.

Man of the match: Jimmy Catchpole for his 69 runs and three catches as stand-in wicket keeper.

A special mention for Henry and Mark Barnden who stepped in at very short notice to ensure that Rollesby had 11 players.

MARTHAM A were comprehensively beaten at Bacton Sabres by 10 wickets in Norfolk League Division Eight.

Put into bat the visitors never really recovered from a poor start, losing their first three wickets with only seven on the board. Youngsters Joe Tyrrell and Toby Bilton with six each, put together a mini-partnership, taking the score along to a modest 23 before being parted.

With skipper Dave Etheridge (16) joining all-rounder Chris Shales (35) with the total on 33 for the loss of six wickets, this pairing took the tally to 91 before both were dismissed within a few balls of each other.

Ollie Sayer then chipped in with four before young Ethan Scally and Gary Bilton put on an unbroken 20 for the last wicket, the latter hitting four lusty boundaries in a cameo innings of 18 not out.

Mark Vardy did most of the damage, taking four wickets while conceding only 13 runs from his 12 overs.

The home side's openers Ben Lawrence (56 not out) and Mike Wright (48 not out) experienced little difficulty in knocking off the runs in 23 overs despite Martham using seven bowlers.

BELTON U13 entertained Rocklands at the Common on Sunday morning and renewed their challenge for the South Norfolk Community League title with an emphatic win.

Belton captain Romesh Tirimanna wisely decided to give his bowlers first use of the ball after winning the toss and was soon rewarded when S Hichcliffe was run out for only two and A Codling was caught by Andrew Page from the bowling of George Savoury for only three. At 19 for two Rocklands were in need of a base to mount a challenge and they found it in J Baker (26) and T Bart (23).

Ben Wood accounted for Bart, bowled, to slow the run rate and steady bowling from Tirimanna (three overs for six runs) and Savoury (three overs 1-14) ensured that the runs were accumulated slowly. Rocklands finished on 101-3 from their 16 overs.

In reply, Romesh Tirimanna and Steven Gopaul found the pitch and the bowling to their liking as they compiled an unbeaten partnership of 104 from just 12.3 overs. Gopaul finished on 47 and Tirimanna on 34 as Belton ran out winners by 10 wickets.

SOUTH Walsham were indebted to Aldborough for arranging a game at late notice following Walsham's original fixture being called-off.

Aldborough won the toss and batted first on a wicket of variable bounce in a 40-over match. Dan Scales and Chris Gould opened the bowling for Walsham and made a steady start keeping the Aldborough openers fairly quiet. Gould was particularly unlucky when he clipped the leg stump of opener Waters and the bails stayed on.

Waters went on to score 73 not out, the highest innings in the match.

Walsham started to make inroads into the Aldborough batting when Garth Futter picked up two wickets, but with a few extras and some impressive batting by Waters, Aldborough were keeping the score moving at 130-3. Stuart Mallett and Dan Scales both picked up three wickets as Walsham fought back. Four excellent catches in the deep from Paul Woods saw Aldborough dismissed for 181 in 38 overs. Walsham conceded 22 wides.

After tea the Walsham openers struggled against good bowling from the Aldborough attack and had only 17 on the board after eight overs.

Whiteside was well caught in the slips for four. Chris Woods then joined Andy Scales and they added 77 in 15 overs before Woods was bowled by Waters for 31. Waters then sent Scales back to the pavilion for an excellent 55.

Walsham slipped from 94-1 to 107-6 as they tried to maintain the run rate. Garth Futter 28 and Chris Gould 16 not out got Walsham close to the total, but the overs ran out and Walsham finished on 167-7, 15 runs from victory.

Upton White Horse MoM: Andy Scales, an excellent half-century.