HAVING suffered their only league defeat at the hands of old friends Caister earlier in the season, Winterton were keen to secure a victory in the return Norfolk League Division Two fixture and keep their promotion hopes on course.

HAVING suffered their only league defeat at the hands of old friends Caister earlier in the season, Winterton were keen to secure a victory in the return Norfolk League Division Two fixture and keep their promotion hopes on course. They did so by a 104-run margin.

On probably the hottest day of the season so far Winterton won the toss and elected to bat.

Bryn Clarke opened the innings with new partner Josh Austin in the absence of Wes Noble-Parker and the pair got off to a solid start, adding 30 when Clarke (12) got an edge to a ball from Tennant to be well held by wicketkeeper Church.

Austin (15), who had looked comfortable in his new role, gave the persevering Tennant a return catch nine runs later. Geoff Roper and Martin Witheridge consolidated the innings and added over 50.

Witheridge dominated the partnership in scoring 34, all the runs being in boundaries (seven fours and a six) until he was bowled by Sims, who bowled a good spell for his side.

Liam Boylan joined Roper who began to score more readily and the pair added another further 50 runs in another solid partnership.

Boylan, who played some of his characteristic drives, was looking to press on when he was also bowled by Sims for 27.

At 140-3 in the 34th over Winterton were well placed to press on to a big score, and Ben Utting played in his own inimitable way to score a rapid 23.

Roper by this time had moved onto his well deserved 50 and then moved up a gear with his scoring.

Utting was eventually out for 23 in the 43rd over when the fifth and last batting point had been secured.

Roper in the meantime was batting freely and when the innings closed on 215-6 he had batted 35 overs for an excellent 86 not out.

As has been the case for most of the season Ben Utting and Richard Larner opened the bowling and the Caister openers Stokes and Lanning kept their side up with the required run rate.

Larner bowled steadily with little fortune while Utting made use of a little uneven bounce in a hostile spell and accounted for Lanning (19) when he gloved a ball to the wicket keeper.

Johnson was bowled in the next over and this brought Green to the wicket, who set off at a rate of knots in pursuit of the target.

He hit a number of boundaries early on and with Stokes continuing to pick up runs round the wicket Caister were still in the hunt.

Tom Whichelow came into the attack to replace Utting and bowled a very tight line and length to stifle the Caister reply.

Green's scoring slowed and both he and Stokes began to get tied down. Whichelow eventually secured the important wicket of Stokes for 21 with the score on 77.

Kevin Percival replaced Larner at the other end and carried on the good work of the bowlers.

He conceded only 10 runs in six overs five of which were maidens and picked up two wickets.

Whichelow in the meantime bowled probably his best spell for Winterton, taking another five wickets in 10 overs to record figures of 6-27.

None of the Caister batsmen were able to dominate his bowling and when they attempted to try and hit him out of the attack he was helped by good catches in the deep, notably from Witheridge who held a running diving catch on the boundary to dismiss Green for 52.

Green was the ninth man out and fittingly Whichelow finished the innings when the Whichelow-Witheridge combination accounted for Church to leave Caister 111 all out and 104 runs short of their target.