Cricket round-up

Batting first Sam Mann (17) and Joe Perry (4) added 26 for the first wicket before both were removed by catches off opening bowler Scales.

John Lund then anchored the innings with a fine knock of 59 before he was last out.

Mike Banham with an aggressive 20 added 40 with Lund whilst Sean Robinson was the only batsman in double figures with 11 whilst extras on 39 were in line with the difficulty of keeping on a variable pitch. Scales three for 36, Corcoran 3-8 and Lake 3-41 were the successful Sprowston bowlers.

Club President, Horry Panks making a reappearance after over nine years remained not out at the end.

Sprowston got off to a flying start with 64 off the first 10 overs. Norfolk Over-60 bowlers Mike Banham (1-29) off 12 and Ron Ashdown (2-37) off 10 put a brake on proceedings to limit Sprowston to 138 for three at 30 overs.

Banham had Hampson lbw for 27 as the ball kept low. Ashdown had help from two catches by David Fitt to remove Cooke (36) and Keene (28). With the strangling bowlers out of the attack, Davy (11 not out) and Burcombe (14 not out) saw Sprowston home with nine overs to spare. Extras again reached 35.

Old Buckenham B: S Mann c S Mann c Burcombe b Scales 17, J Perry c Lake b Scales 4, J Warner b Hall 2, J Lund c Burcombe b Lake 59, S Robinson b Lake 11, M Banham b Scales 20, D Fitt c Palmer b Lake 1, S Dente lbw b Corcoran 0, R Ashdown b Corcoran 7, P Fitt b Corcoran 0, H Panks not out; extras 39. Total 161. Bowling: W Hall 8-1-29-1, D Scales 10-3-36-3, Keene 5-0-26-0, Lake 11.4-2-41-3, S Corcoran 4-1-8-3.

Sprowston C: Hampson lbw b Banham 27, Cooke c D Fitt b Ashdown 36, Keene c D Fitt b Ashdown 28, Davy not out 11, Burcombe not out 14; extras 35. Total (3 wkts) 163. Bowling: P Fitt 7-1-18-0, S Robinson 5-0-40-0, M Banham 12-1-29-1, R Ashdown 10-0-37-2, D Fitt 1-0-8-0.

Hingham (24 pts) beat Aldborough A (7 pts) by 71 runs in the Lucas Fettes Norfolk League Division Four.

Hingham visited Aldborough and were asked to bat on a very green strip. Hingham started slowly and struggled with the rapid bowling attack, with Sam Guy (4) and G Motteram (17).

Hingham then increased the run rate with youthful S Grear-Hardy (18) and D Key (13) coming to the crease.

With hard hitting Steve Guy not troubling the scorers, the Hingham tail needed to wag with skipper D Reeve smashing a quick fire 12, it looked as though Hingham would struggle to reach three figures.

However, with the batting master class from P Allen (29) and D Edmonds (28 not out), sharing a 47-run partnership for the seventh wicket, this left five overs for the bang bang club to join the party with J Ducker 10 of 10 balls and C Edwards (13 not out). Hingham finished on 159-8. Aldborough got off to a healthy start to their innings of 40 without loss, when a smart catch from C Edwards started the demise of the home team.

With the fall of only a few wickets the skipper, D Reeve, turned his attention to the G Motteram, who produced a stunning display of slow-medium pace bowling and with help for the wicket returned figures of 5-6. Aldborough all out for 88.

Hingham: S Guy c Nicholson b Taylor 4, G Motteram b Holroyd 17, S Grear-Hardy c Holroyd b Taylor 18, D Key b Bacon 13, S Guy b Taylor 0, D Reeve lbw Brown 12, P Allen c sub b Brown 29, D Edmonds not out 28, J Ducker b Holroyd 10, C Edwards not out 13; extras 15. Total 159. Bowling: M Holroyd 12-3-45-2, M Cooke 2-1-8-0, N Taylor 12-5-16-3, K Bacon 12-1-54-1, A Brown 8-2-19-2.

Aldborough A: T Nicholson c Reeve b Edwards 31, N Taylor b Allen 6, R Farrow b Motteram 14, S Taylor c Edwards b Weston 2, K Bacon c-b Motteram 4, M Holroyd b Motteram 1, G Swinbourne c Guy b Motteram 3, M Biss lbw Key 0, M Cook not out 8, A Brown b Key 1, L Roe lbw Motteram 1; extras 17. Total 88. Bowling: C Edwards 7-1-32-1, P Allen 7-1-21-1, D Weston 5-1-9-1, G Motteram 7.4-2-6-5, D Key 3-0-12-2.

Great Melton A (22 pts) beat Halvergate (8 pts) by four wickets at Melton Park in the Frankly Digtal Norfolk Cricket Alliance Division Five.

Great Melton A continued their promising start to the season with a comfortable victory over Halvergate at Melton Park. Lee Whiddett won the toss and asked Halvergate to bat first. Openers Clarke and Cooke started watchfully against the probing bowling of Ian Bettridge and Daryl Godbold but, with the score on 33 in the 12th over, Godbold grabbed the key wicket of Clarke, trapped lbw.

Cooke was then forced to retire after taking a swift run, slipping over and suffering a broken wrist. Luke Hannant put a shaky start behind him with some fine shots and, with the score on 127-2 on 30 overs the visitors looked in good shape for a score of around 240 but with Rob Sims (11-1-37-1) bowling tightly at one end, Whiddett brought himself on at the other and picked up three wickets to record figures of 7-0-29-3.

Hannant, however, played very well scoring 107 but he was never able to take the game away from Melton as Halvergate could only muster 208-5 from their 46 overs.

The target looked an eminently chaseable one but the Melton reply got off to a disastrous start as Greenslade (0) was bowled by an inswinging yorker from Howley and Jason Whiddett (3) suffered a rare failure as he nicked off to Halvergate's most dangerous bowler Simon Fox to leave the home side 11-2 in the fifth over.

Matt Clarke and Martin Bunn then set about rebuilding the innings and their stand of 54 in 10 overs gave the innings the early momentum needed. Bunn was out for 25, Jonathan Howard scored 28 in a stand of 42 and Paul Stearman 13 as the score moved to 166-5 with just 43 runs needed off14 overs.

Clarke brought up his first century in two years with a boundary through mid-wicket, before departing soon after for a superb 106 including 21 fours. George Bunn and skipper Whiddett then scored the 17 runs needed to keep Melton in touch with the leaders at the top of Division Five.

Halvergate: S Clarke lbw Godbold 20, S Cooke rtd ht 20, L Hannant not out 107, P Hill lbw L Whiddett 14, C Key lbw L Whiddett 10, M Shepstone c-b Sims 9, S Howley c Clarke b L Whiddett 2, P Southam not out 18; extras 8. Total (5 wkts) 208. Bowling: I Bettridge 10-1-21-0, D Godbold 10-1-51-1, G Bunn 6-0-48-0, R Sims 11-1-37-1, L Whiddett 7-0-29-3, C Greenslade 2-0-15-0.

Great Melton A: J Whiddett c Key b Fox 3, C Greenslade b Howley 0, M Clarke c Howley b Hannant 106, M Bunn c Shepstone b Hill 25, J Howard lbw Hill 28, P Stearman c Southam b Howley 13, L Whiddett not out 16, G Bunn not out 6; extras 13. Total (6 wkts) 210. Bowling: S Fox 10.3-1-51-1, S Howley 9-1-46-2, P Hill 9-0-43-2, M Shepstone 4-0-23-0, T Crane 2-0-17-0, L Hannant 2-0-21-1.

Great Melton B (26 pts) beat Cringleford Lodge (7 pts) by 60 runs at Town Close School in the Lucas Fettes Norfolk League Division Three.

Great Melton B looked to get back to winning ways after their first loss of the season last week to top-of-the-table Martham and in winning the toss Woody Loines decided to bat first.

Melton got off to a steady start putting on 46 for the first wicket before Neal Clarke departed for 15.

Alborough was joined at the crease by skipper Loines and they both continued to hit the bad ball to the boundary until Loines was out for 14. Alborough departed five short of his half century but Chris McKay was looking very assured, steadily building his innings, running well between the wickets and punishing any bad balls.

Once McKay had departed for a well made 52 the middle order of Fawad Kaiser (23), George Ducker (33 not out) and Jake Mardell (16) continued to tick Melton's innings toward the 200 mark. Melton's eventually finished on 224-8.

Cringleford's first wicket fell in the fifth over of their reply with Kyle Mason and George Ducker combing to run out opener M Woods (12). In the next over as Jake Mardell had R Rahul (1) caught in the deep by Loines after which wickets began to fall at regular intervals and, with the score on 116-5, it looked as if the home side would wrap up the game quickly.

F Chaudry (42) and G Wheeler (23) then fought back, the pair putting on 40 for the sixth wicket, hitting boundaries at will and looking as if they may just chase down their target of 225.

Chris McKay was then brought into the attack to try and break the partnership and he got his man, having the dangerous Chaudry caught of his own bowling. Skipper Loines then brought his two slow bowlers on in Neal Clarke and Fawad Kaiser and Melton bowled their next 10 overs in around 20 minutes.

As a result Cringleford were running out of overs to score the runs required, with Fawad Kaiser bowling all three of his victims to finish with an impressive spell of 2.1-2-0-3.

Having bowled and fielded very well Melton picked up maximum 26 points to go into their next game full of confidence and looking to continue their good start to the season with another win.

Great Melton B: N Clarke c Woods b G Longman 15, A Alborough c Longman b D Critchfield 45, D Loines c Wheeler b Rahul 14, C McKay c A Garrod b E Critchfield 52, T Wyatt c Rahul b Chuesang 13, J Moxon c Chaudry b Chuesang 0, F Kaiser c Chuesang b E Critchfield 23, G Ducker not out 33, J Mardell st Woods b E Critchfield 16, G Coulson not out 1; extras 12. Total (8 wkts) 224. Bowling: G Longman 7-1-33-1, F Chaudry 9-2-25-0, D Critchfield 12-3-45-1, R Rahul 6-0-35-1, J Chuesang 7-1-43-2, E Critchfield 4-0-29-3.

Cringleford Lodge A: J Chuesang c G Ducker b Coulson 17, M Woods run out 12, R Rahul c Loines b Mardell 1, C Stearman c Loines b Coulson 26, A Iggy c Moxon b McKay 12, F Chaudry c-b McKay 42, G Longman b Kaiser 10, G Wheeler b Kaiser 23, A Garrod c G Ducker b N Clarke 0 , D Critchfield b Kaiser 5, E Critchfield not out 0; extras 6. Total 154. Bowling: G Coulson 12-1-52-2, J Mardell 7-0-19-1, K Mason 6-0-17-0, C McKay 6-1-33-2, N Clarke 7-2-27-1, F Kaiser 2.1-2-0-3.

Great Melton C (7 pts) lost to Felthorpe A (26 pts) by six wickets at Felthorpe in the Lucas Fettes Norfolk League Division Six.

Despite an excellent 98 not out by Graeme Button that enabled Melton C to post a total of 260, Felthorpe A chased it down to win an exciting match with just two balls to spare.

Button's knock came after Melton, invited to bat, lost Mally Howard (19), Steve Clarke (3) and Steve Phoenix (1) in quick succession. Kevin Frazer provided some much-needed resistance with his first half-century for the club and young Craig Woolrich hit some fine shots in his 23 but it was Button who played the innings of his long career.

His previous best score in 15 years as a Great Melton player was 46 and this was eclipsed with a four to bring up his 50. In total he hit 21 fours as he neared his maiden century but he was robbed of his big moment when last man Stuart Wilson spooned a catch to mid-off with an over to spare.

On a small ground even 260 is not always a winning total and Melton needed to bowl and field well. Daniel Hayward and Wilson opened the bowling the opening 10 overs saw only one single and a two scored but there were 14 boundaries as Edwards and Julian Dismore were quick to punish anything short.

The introduction of Craig Woolrich into the attack brought the dismissal of Edwards, lbw for 47 but Dismore (64) did not depart until the score had moved to 148 — reluctantly despite a clear snick behind off Frazer.

Carpenter and T Stoneman, however, took the Felthorpe score past 200 and the game seemed to have slipped away from Melton until the re-introduction of Woolrich nearly turned things around. He bowled two maiden overs before trapping Carpenter lbw for 52, then bowling Stoneman for 32 leaving Felthorpe still needing 16 to win off the last two overs. Savage then hit the first two balls of the penultimate over for four and, by the time Woolrich came to bowl the final over five runs were needed.

Two dots and a two kept the result in the balance but the fourth ball was driven through the covers to give the home side victory.

It was a disappointing first defeat for the C's especially after Button's and Frazer's efforts with the bat. Woolrich (10.4-2-40-3) bowled well but the rest of the bowling and the fielding was not quite up to the high standards set in the first three matches.

There were too many 'four balls' and mis-fields which, in the end gave the home side too many easy runs. Credit to Felthorpe, though. They batted well.

Great Melton C: S Clarke b N Stoneman 3, M Howard c Leak b Sicklemore 19, S Phoenix c Sicklemore b Doyle 1, K Frazer b Leak 58, M Farmer b Sicklemore 0, G Button not out 98, C Woolrich b Eadwards 23, J Bickel run out 6, D Hayward b Eadwards 9, L DeSalis b Doyle 6, S Wilson c Stoneman b Sicklemore 0; extras 36. Total 259. Bowling: N Stoneman 12-1-54-1, E Doyle 10-0-47-2, D Sicklemore 11-1-67-3, M Leak 6-0-44-0, R Eadwards 5-0-27-2).

Felthorpe A: R Eadwards lbw Woolrich 47, J Dismore c Clarke b Frazer 64, G Carpenter lbw Woolrich 52, T Stoneman b Woolrich 32, S Walls not out 10, J Savage not out 17; extras 32. Total (4 wkts) 260. Bowling: D Hayward 5-0-37-0, S Wilson 5-1-26-0, C Woolrich 10-4-2-40-3, M Farmer 3-0-26-0, L DeSalis 7-0-32-0, K Frazer 11-0-61-1, J Bickel 3-0-26-0.

Great Melton (8 pts) lost to Stow (19 pts) by six wickets at Stow in the Mid-Norfolk Sunday League Shield Premier Division.

Great Melton really struggled to raise a side for the visit to Stow in the Mid-Norfolk League's Shield Premier Division but, helped out by club stalwarts Steve Phoenix and Daryl Godbold, youngsters Michael Farmer, Joe Bickel and Kyle Mason and U15 manager Dave Bickel, a much under-strength side not only managed to fulfil the fixture but pushed the home side all the way, eventually losing in the penultimate over.

With half the side made up of B and C Team players, Melton weren't helped by losing Alex Cooper in the second over for one and Martyn Cook, in the seventh over for 13 to leave them at 21-2 with the only two first team players back in the pavilion.

George Bunn hit 26, however, and, with Matt Clarke looking assured the scoreboard ticked along at four an over. Clarke went on to score a good 48 to go with his century the day before, Farmer hit 13, Godbold 15 and Phoenix 27 not out as Melton managed 177-7.

Melton then performed well in the field. Mason and Godbold bowled useful opening spells and spinners Alex Cooper (10-0-39-0) and Neal Clarke (10-1-46-1) bowled 20 overs in tandem with very little luck — several excellent shouts for lbw being turned down — while George Bunn claimed the late wicket of skipper Thompson and Joe Bickel ran out Ward. Denny, survived a couple of chances, but batted very well, scoring 101 as Stow eventually reached their target with nine balls to spare.

It was a good game and all credit to Melton's patched-up team but the day was a little spoilt by some ridiculous and histrionic appealing by the home side while Melton were batting and one or two dubious decisions when they were fielding.

Great Melton U15 beat Old Buckenham U15 by 54 runs at Melton Park in the Andy Seeley Trophy.

Joe Bush scored an unbeaten half-century and there were useful batting contributions from Chris Greenslade, Michael Farmer and Tom Hunter as Great Melton U15s powered their way to a third successive victory in the Andy Seeley Trophy.

Melton's total of 137-2 in 20 overs was the result of an excellent batting display. Greenslade and Farmer put on 44 for the first wicket with Greenslade hitting a series of boundaries before mis-timing a drive and being caught at mid-off.

Farmer went for 19 with the score on 62 but this brought Bush and Hunter together. With Bush the dominant partner the score raced to 137, Bush bringing a deserved 50 with his ninth boundary. Hunter finished umbeaten on 23 and Bush on 54 as the pair added 75 in just eight overs.

After Greenslade removed Pape and Dodds in a three-over spell of 2-2, Old Buckenham were always up against it. Merideth (22) batted well until he became one of Craig Woorich's victims and, although Jordan Lake provided some spirited resistance with a hard-hitting 30 not out, the visitors could only reach 83-7.

Woolrich (2-1-3-2) and Joe Bickel (4-1-12-2) got two wickets apiece with the other a run-out. Melton's fielding was impressive and it was another good victory for a fast-improving side.