HALVERGATE travelled for the second week running, to an unbeaten Great Melton A, with four players making their first appearance of the season — Hannant, Shepstone, Howley and Austin.

Luke Hannant’s unbeaten 107 was in vain as they lost the Norfolk Alliance Division Five match by four wickets.

Another blow was a broken wrist for Steven Cooke.

The Melton captain won the toss and decided to field first, confident that his batting line-up could chase down any total that the Hares could set.

The innings started solidly for Halvergate, with Clarke and Cooke putting on 28 in the first 10 overs before Clarke was trapped lbw in the 12th over for 20, with the score on 33.

This brought Luke Hannant to the crease and over the next 34 overs he built an innings with control and skill, finishing 107 not out.

He was ably supported by Pat Hill, Chris Key, Mark Shepstone and Shaun Howley, before he was joined by Paul Southam and together, with some superb running between the wickets, they pushed the score past 200 to finish on 209 for five.

Unfortunately, during the innings, Steven Cooke was injured badly when attempting a quick single.

He dived at the non-striker’s end to make his ground and in the process fell awkwardly on his wrist. It was later confirmed at hospital that he had, as feared, broken it. Everyone at the club wish Steve a speedy recovery.

Halvergate started in the field knowing they would only have 10 players for the duration of the Melton innings, and would therefore have to bowl well and take their chances when they came.

Fox and Howley opened the bowling and did so superbly, removing the two Melton openers with only 11 on the board. However, the Melton middle order began to fight back with some strong shots in front of the wicket.

This continued throughout the remainder of the innings, particularly from M Clarke, who finished with 106, falling to Hannant just short of completing victory for his team.

Halvergate made regular breakthroughs at the other end, with good catches from Shepstone and Southam off the bowling of Hill and Howley respectively, but it wasn’t quite enough.

Halvergate: S Clarke lbw b Godbold 20, S Cooke retd 20, L Hannant not out 107, P Hill lbw b Whiddett 14, C Key lbw b Whiddett 14, M Shepstone c-b Simms 9, S Howley c Clarke b Whiddett 2, P Southam not out 18; extras 8. Total 209. Bowling: T Bettridge 10-1-21-0, D Godbold 10-1-32-1, G Bunn 6-0-48-0, R Simms 11-1-37-1, L Whiddett 7-0-29-3, C Greenslade 2-0-14-0.

Great Melton A: J Whiddett c Key b Fox 3, C Greenslade b Howley 0, M Clarke c Howley b Hannant 106, M Bunn c Shepstone b Hill 25, J Howard lbw b Hill 28, P Stearman c Southam b Howley 13, G Bunn not out 6; extras 13. Total: 210. Bowling: S Fox 10.3-1-51-1, S Howley 9-1-46-2, P Hill 9-1-43-2, M Shepstone 4-0-23-1, T Crane 2-0-17-0, L Hannant 2-0-21-1.