Martham travelled to Sprowston A wary of the weather and the underdog, but came away with a win that strengthened their position at the top of Norfolk Alliance Division Three.

Sprowston won the toss and elected to field, with a new opening partnership of Louis Smith and Jake Tipping coming out to bat.

A decent start was bought to a halt as Smith (14) became the first of three lbw decisions. Alex Sayer joined Tipping in the middle and a decent partnership of 54 was ended as Tipping was also given out lbw.

Jack Whatmough then joined Sayer in the middle, but surprisingly runs were a little hard to come by. The two prolific batsman kept the scoreboard ticking over before Sayer fell for 60, caught on the boundary trying to up the run rate.

Joe Oakey (21) joined Whatmough who eventually fell lbw for a patient 75.

Martham finished on a challenging 249-7, Spilling (2-43) and Trivedi (2-26) being the pick of the bowlers.

Sprowston’s reply started off solidly but wickets fell regularly and the weather threatened to cut the day short. The light drizzle stopped an excellent spell of bowling by Muthu Lanka (3-26) and although his spell extinguished any faint hopes of a home victory, Martham had to resort to spin only, and the good spirit of the opposition, to try and bowl out their opponents — or hope that the weather held out.

Will Oakey (2-31) and Louis Smith (3-19) duly obliged, with Sprowston eventually all out in the 40th over for 154.

Credit must go to the Sprowston skipper whose team were willing to bat through the light drizzle for the last 45 minutes or so.

With just four games to play Martham are closing in on promotion, with a 51 point advantage over third placed Bungay. They travel to Fakenham A on Saturday.

The Division Three derby match between Acle A and Winterton was a one-sided affair, with hosts Acle winning by 10 wickets.

Winterton toiled to 110-9 in 45 overs after electing to bat first, with Steve Gopaul taking 4-21 and Josh Larner 3-17. Acle openers Rob Porter and Owen Gooch both finished with unbeaten half centuries as the end came in the 25th over.

Acle visit Old Buckenham A on Saturday while Winterton host Bungay.