Halvergate Cricket Club suffered a disappointing home loss against nine-player Gillingham on Saturday.

Gillingham won the toss and decided to bat and Halvergate’s bowlers got off to a good start with a run out by Perry Kelf in the second over.

Two wickets for Danny Cook in the third over saw Gillingham on 19-3 and despite the visitors scoring at a decent run-rate, six wickets were down in the 12th over with the score on 61.

Davey (34), Stevens (39 not out) and Smith (45 not out) then batted well over the remaining overs as Gillingham recovered to post a good score of 190-7 from 45 overs.

Halvergate’s bowling returns were Danny Cook 3 for 45, Simon Burns 2 for 57, Stuart Willimott 0 for 25, Graham Harrop 0 for 1, Shaun Howley 0 for 30, Perry Kelf 1 for 8 and Sam Utting 0 for 18.

After an excellent tea the Hares lost both openers in the first 10 overs, Howley for two and Kelf for three.

Ross Sanders (2) and Danny Cook (0) were also dismissed, leaving young number three Sam Utting to try and hold the innings together with Halvergate on 43-4 in the 13th over.

Utting was then dismissed for 31 before some runs from Stuart Willimott (11), Shaun Howley (43) and Graham Morris (13) pushed Halvergate to 115-7 in the 30th over. But the remaining runs were to be a struggle with the dismissals of Simon Burns (2), Graham Harrop (5 not out) and Amy Morris (1) ending the Halvergate innings on 144 all out in 40 overs.

There were three wickets each for Patrick and Barber, with two for Smith while extras at 31 helped flatter Halvergate.

The defeat sees Halvergate in fourth place and seemingly losing any hope of promotion although they travel to Great Melton B on Saturday hoping to regain the form that saw a positive first half to the season.

Elsewhere in the Norfolk League Great Yarmouth had a disappointing day in Division One as they went down to relegation threatened Castle Acre. Simon Riddick’s 44 was the only score of note as Yarmouth were bowled out for 114, with Michael Edwards grabbing 3-39.

Castle Acre overhauled that modest total for the loss of only three wickets

In Division Two East, Caister went marching, Shaun Goodby’s 4-30 taking care of second-placed Southwold in a low scoring game.