HALVERGATE extended their lead at the top of Norfolk Alliance Division Five with a six-wicket victory over Norwich and Coltishall Wanderers A.The start of the match was delayed by rain, and when Halvergate won the toss they had no hesitation in asking the visitors to bat first.

HALVERGATE extended their lead at the top of Norfolk Alliance Division Five with a six-wicket victory over Norwich and Coltishall Wanderers A.

The start of the match was delayed by rain, and when Halvergate won the toss they had no hesitation in asking the visitors to bat first.

Wanderers made a solid start scoring 25 from six overs before their skipper chipped the ball back to Tom Booth to be caught and bowled. Tim Crane struck in the next over with an important wicket as he trapped C Beeden lbw for 13.

The Halvergate bowlers started to take regular wickets and stem the flow of runs. Crane took another wicket in his opening spell and Booth two more to leave the visitors on 48 for five after 18 overs.

Kelvin London and Shaun Howley took over where the openers had left off. In their 10-over spells they both took two wickets and conceded less than two runs an over.

T Beeden offered some resistance for Wanderers as he dug in to score a dogged 19, and A Arthur scored a quick 15 towards the end of the innings before he ran past a tempter from London to be stumped.

Wanderers had struggled to 85 when Booth took the final wicket of the innings to finish with figures of four for 17.

Halvergate's opening batsmen got the reply away to a solid start and dealt well with a good spell of fast bowling from the Wanderers overseas player.

However, Luke Hannant was eventually bowled by J Mitchell for 10 with the score on 37 and then in the final over of his spell, he

struck again to also bowl Simon Brister for seven.

Steven Clarke was batting well but saw two more partners fall in quick succession as first Kelvin London and then Scott Foreman were both dismissed for one. This was the last success for the visitors as Clarke was joined by Pat Hill and between them quickly knocked of the remaining runs with Hill finishing on 18 and Clarke 44 not out.

Halvergate again put in a good performance against a Wanderers team with some strong players.

They meet them again this week and will be hoping for an equally good display.

Eden Resourcing man-of-the-match: Steven Clarke for his innings of

44 not out plus a catch and stumping.

HALVERGATE A, in Norfolk League Division Five, produced a greatly-improved performance to end Watton's unbeaten start to the season on Saturday in a game which proved to be almost a mirror image of the previous week's meeting.

Despite heavy rain over the previous 48 hours, the pitch was playable but would produce a number of surprises for the batsmen. With this in mind, Halvergate A skipper David Jones put the home side into bat after winning the toss.

Watton openers Norman and Ranson looked to make a quick start but tight bowling by Jones and Glyn Debbage restricted their chances. Debbage struck in the ninth

over to remove Norman, and Jones struck twice to account for J Oakey and Walsh.

The home side were in a comfortable position at 71 for three after 25 overs before Debbage struck three times to remove Ranson and Joe Norman with James Howley taking a sharp catch to remove Parfitt. The Hares kept the pressure on and Graham Harrop produced a tight spell which forced the home side into desperate hitting.

A catch by Ben Key and two from David Jones brought three more quick wickets before Stuart Willimot ended the innings in the 42 over with the home side 110 all out.

The home side needed early wickets and Joe Norman bowled Ben Key in the first over before Stuart Willimot and Chris Mills steadied the innings.

Mills was trapped in front in the 12th over as the home side sought to put pressure on the Hares but

Stuart Hannant joined Willimot and the pair batted well to build a winning total.

The pair put on 62 together before Willimot was dismissed. Paul Ryan then hitting the winnings runs to seal a well-deserved victory for the Hares.

The Hares will look to build on this win against Rocklands A tomorrow.

ROLLESBY A produced a fine all-round performance to defeat Loddon A by 80 runs in the Norfolk League Division Six match on Saturday.

Loddon won the toss and asked Rollesby to bat on a damp pitch. The Rollesby openers Alan Fakes and Johnny Payne batted watchfully for a partnership of 47 before Fakes was well caught and bowled by S Davies.

Roy Websdale joined Payne and again continued in a watchful fashion with Rollesby having reached 53 at the halfway stage.

By the 30th over Rollesby had reached 79 for two having lost Payne for a steady 43. The next 15 overs produces 102 runs as Websdale, Gerdes (9) and Vargese (14) upped the run rate.

Websdale, who punished anything loose outside the off-stump, finally perished in the 44th over going for one big shot too many.

Max Ryles added to the final push for runs with a cameo 11 not out.

The target for Loddon of 182 was always going to be difficult. The openers of G Hall and N Reeve gave Loddon the start they required with 25 runs off the first five overs.

George Barnden then induced both openers to try one big shot too many and had them caught in consecutive overs - Roy Websdale taking an excellent catch to dismiss Hall and then Patrick Endall hanging on to a skier from Reeve.

The Rollesby bowlers then began to squeeze the Loddon batting, Websdale conceding just 17 runs from his 12-over allocation. Brady England (3-21), Oscar Gerdes (3-29) and Barnden (3-23) ensured that the game was won by halfway.

The quest was then for maximum bowling bonus points. But Rollesby could not dismiss the final batsman as Loddon finished on 101 for nine, Rollesby winning by 80 runs.

Rollesby fielded a very young side that performed magnificently in all aspects of the game.

The man of the match for Rollesby was Roy Websdale with 55 runs with the bat, one for 17 with the ball and two catches.

WINTERTONA: Surviving the weather proved to be a blessing in the “skies” for Winterton A as they gained a much-needed win over Hales A.

Winning the toss, Phil Drake opted to bat on a rustic looking pitch which became increasingly difficult.

Fred Playford and man of the match Mark Hambrook both reached 50s in good time. Both batsman waited for the bad ball and scored freely. Winterton reached 173 all out but not before receiving another injury blow this time, for Jim Stanhope, who fractured a shoulder going for a quick second run and falling heavily.

In reply, wickets fell steadily and only young Watts (36) for the home team threatened to bring Hales near the score. Mark Hambrook and Jon Stanhope took three wickets apiece.

Winterton acknowledged that there is real potential in the Hales youngsters who battled bravely throughout and enjoyed their cricket.

Martham met Ashmanhaugh in Norfolk League Division Four. In very bad conditions both teams agreeing to play on an artificial strip for the match to be completed.

Ashmanhaugh batted first and through some tight bowling by Randall and Ewing were soon reduced to 19 for three.

J Everett joined Warminger to steady the ship and frustrate the home teams bowlers. Martham eventually achieved a breakthrough with Spencer and Sayer bowling well and Ashmanhaugh struggled through to 100 all out.

Spencer and Ewing turned in good figures of three for five and three for 23 respectively.

In reply, Martham soon realised that on this batting surface the visitors' score of 100 was a very respectable one and were soon struggling.

Only S Randall and D Spencer seemed to master the conditions but ran out of partners and Martham finished on a very disappointing 62 all out. The visitors adjusted to the surface better and deserved to win.

SOUTH Walsham were well beaten by Southtown in a 40-over friendly played at South Walsham.

Batting first, Walsham found it difficult to score runs against the Southtown opening attack and it was not helped when opener Chris Woods misjudged a hook shot and was hit on the head. A quick visit to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital and a few stitches and Woods had returned by tea time.

As David Watkins (26) and Richard Whiteside (13) tried to move the score along, both got themselves out. Neil Johnson then took control with a typical hard-hitting innings, but with not much coming from the other end the Walsham scoring rate never reached five runs an over.

After 40 overs Walsham had reached 180 for three with Johnson not out on 85. The Southtown bowlers had bowled well on an excellent batting track and the Walsham players knew at tea they were 40 runs short of a decent total.

After tea Nick Mobbs and Lewis Chapman set off in fine style, despatching any bad ball to the boundary.

After 14 overs they had scored 68 when Mobbs fell for 42, bowled by Paul Woods.

Chapman and Ryan Edmonds continued to attack the bowling and even with a couple of fielding lapses Walsham never gained any control.

A brilliant catch from Paul Woods saw Chapman dismissed for a splendid 82, but Southtown coasted home by eight wickets with three overs to spare.

Upton White Horse man of the match: Neil Johnson for his excellent innings of 85 not out.

BELTON U13 visited the picturesque Tas Valley ground in pursuit of their third straight win in the South Norfolk Community League but came up just short in the run chase.

Put in the field, Belton took advantage of the new ball and with Romesh Tirimanna and George Savoury bowling in tandem they soon had the home side on the back foot.

Reece Milham chipped in with an outstanding run-out, taking aim at a single stump from

mid-on and dismissing the dangerous Howard.

Wickets tumbled regularly as the Belton fielders gratefully accepted every mis-hit shot that went to hand. Harry Harris clung on to one at mid-off and Robert Etheridge snapped up a neat caught and bowled and Andrew Page took a neat catch behind the wicket off the same bowler to make sure the score remained within reach.

Hethersett and Tas Valley closed on 88 for five from their 16 overs.

In reply, Belton were off to a steady start as Tirimanna and Savoury dispatched any loose deliveries and ran sensibly between the wickets.

Romesh reached nine when he lifted one to mid-on and was smartly caught. A mix-up led to the downfall of Savoury run out for 18.

After that the runs dried up and only Harry Harris (11) was able to reach double figures as Belton fell 17 runs short, closing on 72-6.