Vauxhall Mallards recorded a comfortable 84 run victory at relegation threatened Bury St Edmunds in the Gibbs Denley East Anglian Premier League on Saturday.

They made 259-5 off their 50 overs before dismissing their hosts for 175 in 42.

Saturday’s game was meaningful for both sides; for Bury to ensure they kept off the bottom of the table and for Mallards to avoid a losing trend.

Bury won the toss and put Mallards in to bat. Runs came easily off the bat for Mitchell Todd in the opening overs but he had to go off injured having been hit by a fast, lifting ball.

He retired on 30 not out with Mallards on 45.

Ben France and Luke Caswell went on to add 90 to the total. Spinners Sean Park and Josh Cantrell slowed the batting down during a slow middle spell for Mallards and Bury captain Park employed frequent bowling changes to try to unsettle the batsmen.

France was bowled by Manthorpe in his second spell for 67 but Luke Caswell and John Ewart made a stand of 78 to push the total on to 203, with Caswell going for 50.

Todd returned to the crease and added to his score to make 42 while Ewart was stumped for 57. Mallards’ top four batsmen made good scores and Bury let through a good many extras to help Mallards to 259-5 off 50 overs.

Although Bury have not had good form this season it didn’t mean there could be any let up for Mallards’ bowlers.

Bury didn’t have the resources though for a strong chase and lost wickets regularly and cheaply. Alastair Allchin top scored for the home side on 31 and overseas player Daron Cruickshank who guested in the Vauxhall Mallards President’s Day match last weekend, made a quick 16.

There was no strong threat from Bury however, they were all out eventually for 175 off 42 overs. Mallards used seven bowlers who shared the wickets in a match that produced a pleasing result.

Vauxhall Mallards welcome Copdock to Halvergate on Saturday for their penultimate league fixture (11am).

The Norfolk Alliance’s player of the month for July was Alex Sayer from Martham.

His performances of 128, 60, 67 and 4-36 helped Martham to maintain their position at the top of Division Three and they went on to win the title.