Winterton got their Norfolk Cricket Alliance Division Four campaign under way with a dramatic win against Cromer A as they snatched five wickets for no runs.

Asked to bat on what looked difficult conditions Winterton got off to a poor start lost both openers cheaply. Experienced heads Geoff Roper and Martin Witheridge who excellently went about restoring the Winterton innings, the latter with some power hitting.

The fall of Witheridge (33) bought Nicky Crawley to the crease for his first team debut, and he compiled a quick-fire 18. Roper continued to his 50 whilst partnering with Keith Drewitt (18) who hit one over for 13 runs. Danny Snowling (18) and Roper (78no) pushed the innings to a competitive 201-9. A brilliant innings from Ben Clarke (78) smashing 13 fours and three sixes seemed to take the game away from Winterton in the first 10 overs. He was eventually bowled by Ryan Edmonds (4-0-23-2), in an excellent short spell of fast swing bowling. At 166-3, Cromer A had 7 wickets and 15 overs remaining to score just 36, the game looked very much over. But a devastating spell of explosive fast bowling from Ben Utting blew the Cromer A middle and lower order away, returning figures of 9.3-2-46-6 and securing the win for Winterton.

Cromer A’s last five wickets fell for no runs as Winterton snatched a most unlikely victory.