Winterton solid in away victory

Winterton beat Stow A by 5 wickets in Norfolk Alliance Division Five

HAVING made the long trip to Stow on Saturday, second-placed Winterton were rewarded with their second successive win.

Stow elected to make first use of what looked to be a good batting wicket. However, Richard Larner and Ben Utting exerted an early stranglehold on the Stow batsmen, who scored only nine runs in the first seven overs.

The pressure eventually told when Blowers was lbw to Utting. Dyer (9) then tried to break the stranglehold with a couple of big shots but edged Utting to gully where Clarke clung onto the catch.

Larner was rewarded for an excellent spell when Royle was lbw in the next over. Chima and Denton dug in but were unable to pick up the scoring rate.

Jonny Allen replaced Utting but there was no relief for the Stow batsmen. With the score on 52, Chima (12) lobbed Allen to Edmonds and Larner was rewarded with a wicket in the next over, bowling Barter.

Allen bowled Denton for a solid 25 and at 63-6 the Winterton bowlers were looking to close out the Stow innings as soon as possible.

Skinner and Griffin aimed some lusty shots but Danny Snowling, who has the happy knack of taking a wicket in his first over, had Skinner (17) sharply stumped by Fred Playford. Griffin continued to hit the odd boundary but Kevin Percival and Snowling polished off the tail with a highlight being Utting’s running catch at deep mid-on off Percival.

The Stow innings closed at 133 and all Winterton’s bowlers took two wickets apiece.

Another opening stand of over 50 by Bryn Clarke and Josh Austin set a solid base for Winterton’s reply. The pair went about their task with few alarms with Austin hitting the ball in his usual crisp fashion and Clarke also looking solid.

With the score on 56 Austin went to drive Skinner the off-spinner and was bowled through the gate for a well-made 32.

Geoff Roper (8) hit a couple of boundaries before Skinner lured him into an edge to first slip. Martin Witheridge joined Clarke and after taking boundaries off Chima and Cooke, Barter came into the attack.

Witheridge (30) hit four boundaries off the first five balls but the bowler had his revenge in his next over when a little bit of extra bounce brought an inside edge onto the wicket.

On 107, Winterton were comfortably closing in on their target. Clarke was still picking off runs at the other end, and although Edmonds and Allen were both stumped off Barter in trying to finish the game with a flourish, there was no doubt the win would be achieved. The target was passed in the 36th over when Clarke hit the winning boundary to remain 43 not out.

This was a solid team performance from Winterton who are running into good form just as the fixture list gives them a week off.

Stow A: M Blowers lbw Utting 7, J Dyer c Clarke b Utting 9, S Royle lbw Larner 0, J Chima c Edmonds b Allen 13, O Deaton b Allen 25, J Barter b Larner 1, I Skinner st Playford b Snowling 17, P Griffin not out 29, H Nasar c Utting b Percival 12, S Cooke c-b Percival 5, T Webber B Snowling 0; extras 14. Total 133. Bowling: B Utting 8-2-26-2, R Larner 12-4-39-2, J Allen 7-1-22-2, D Snowling 9-3-28-2, K Percival 6-1-11-2.

Winterton: B Clarke not out 43, J Austin b Skinner 32, G Roper c unknown b Skinner 8, M Witheridge b Barter 30, R Edmonds st Denton b Barter 6, F Playford not out 0; extras 15. Total 136-5. Bowling: P Griffin 4-0-12-0, S Cooke 7-3-15-0, I Skinner 9-2-40-2, J Chima 5-2-21-0, J Barter 6-3-23-3, T Webb 5.2-0-23-0.