A small piece of Winterton club history was made on Saturday as a first Norfolk Alliance win by five wickets was secured against Brooke A in Division Five.

On a blustery day Kevin Percival won the toss and for the first time this season and asked the opposition to make first use of a good-looking wicket.

Brooke openers Larner and Bennett kept out the many good balls bowled by Richard Larner and Ben Utting, putting away the odd loose ball. The innings chugged along until in the 12th over a piece of good fielding by the returning Sam Drake saw Larner run out for 17 with the score on 35.

Carver joined his senior partner Bennett and after a few early alarms with the ball going past the outside edge the pair built a solid partnership of 101 in 27 overs.

Percival changed his bowlers around and all beat both batsmen as it it looked less and less likely a wicket would fall. However, neither batsman pushed on to try and post a big total.

Eventually Bennett misjudged Sam Drake’s throwing arm and a piece of sharp thinking by Danny Snowling in pushing the throw onto the stumps saw Bennett run out for 66.

Josh Austin soon accounted for Prewer-Andrews and Snowling then had Banham (9) caught by Martin Witheridge and Carver stumped for 56 by Fred Playford.

The Brooke innings closed on 183 for five as again Winterton were unable to get through to the tail.

The reply got off to a poor start as Clarke was caught third ball for nought off Banham. However Austin and Geoff Roper dug in and began picking off the Brooke bowlers.

With the score on 53 Austin launched an uncharacteristic shot at the spinner Bennett and was caught off a skier for 22. Martin Witheridge came to the wicket and launched a blitz on the Brooke attack.

In the next 10 overs 86 runs were added, of which Witheridge scored 63. His innings contained ten fours and a six and effectively ended Brooke’s hopes of keeping Winterton under their total.

Witheridge was eventually out to a very sharp chance in the gulley but had effectively put Winterton in charge of the game. Only 45 runs were needed with half the innings remaining.

Only seven of those overs were needed as Geoff Roper also put bat to ball and moved onto his own 50.

A slight wobble occurred as a couple of quick wickets went down but Ben Utting continued his good batting form to hit a quick 21 not out.

Roper remained 58 not out as Winterton closed the game out to secure 21 points.

Brooke A: Mr Larner run out 17, C Bennett run out 66, M Carver st Playford b Snowling 56, J Prewer-Andrews c-b Austin 0, C Banham c Witheridge b Snowling 9, T Warner not out 3, R Hayman not out 7; extras 25. Total (5 wkts) 183. Bowling: B Utting 7-2-26-0, R Larner 10-4-20-0, S Drake 7-1-26-0, K Percival 6-3-17-0, D Snowling 9-1-31-2, J Austin 7-0-42-1.

Winterton: B Clarke c M Carver b Banham 0, J Austin c Prewer-Andrews b Bennett 22, G Roper not out 58, M Witheridge c M Carver b Banham 63, K Drewitt c Hayman b Babington 0, F Playford b Banham 2, B Utting not out 21; extras 18. Total (5 wkts) 184. Bowling: C Banham 11-1-51-3, R Hayman 6-0-34-0, C Bennett 4-0-27-1, M Carver 4-0-36-0, M Babington 5-1-33-1.

WINTERTON A travelled to Norwich prison to play against Norwich Bystanders, looking to build on the previous week’s win.

On a poor-looking wicket, the visitors elected to bat, thinking that the pitch would only get worse.

Yet another new opening partnership, of Tom Roper and Wes Noble-Parker, put on just 16 runs before Noble-Parker was caught out for five. Mark Hambrook came and went for six, bowled by Subbu. Ryan

Edmonds joined Roper and they pushed the score past 50 before Roper was bowled by Arnold for a well-earned 26.

Karl Lawes (18) and Jonno Stanhope-Smith (5) came and went, bowled and lbw respectively off the bowling of Kamal.

Nicky Crawley was bowled for four, again by Kamal, and the Winterton innings looked to be crumbling with the score at 101 for six.

Young Brian Pilkington made a quick-fire 13 before being caught off Subbu.

Skipper Whichelow demoted himself down to No 9 and with Edmonds put on 50. Edmonds scored his maiden half-century for Winterton before finally succumbing to the bowling of Taylor, himself caught and bowled trying to up the run rate.

Bob Pugh was run out for one, and the final partnership of Jerry Gyde (1) and Whichelow added two runs before the skipper was run out for five. The Winterton innings ended on a very competitive 171 with four balls remaining of their innings.

Tom Roper and Mark Hambrook kept the score down, Dilip lbw to Hambrook. Chandra (6) was caught by Crawley, off Hambrook, with the score on 18 and Winterton looked to have got a stranglehold on the match.

Opener, Ollerton (20) was caught by stand-in wicket-keeper Stanhope-Smith, with Roper bowling.

A bizarre over from Pugh followed, which involved two wickets, 14 runs and two no-balls, to leave the home side 86 for six.

Some loose bowling from Noble-Parker and Gyde let the Bystanders back into the game, but a regular loss of wickets kept the score down.

A caught and bowled for Noble-Parker, an lbw for Whichelow, a wicket for Edmonds to add to his 50 and then two more wickets for Roper, another catch for Stanhope-Smith and a clean bowled, finished the Bystanders’ innings at 138.

This resulted in a 33-run win for Winterton, who are now flying high in the league.