Great Melton produced an uncharacteristically poor display in the field to slip from 72-1 to 158-9 as they attempted to chase down Bradenham A's competitive total of 222-5.

Great Melton produced an uncharacteristically poor display in the field to slip from 72-1 to 158-9 as they attempted to chase down Bradenham A's competitive total of 222-5.

Although classed as a draw, Bradenham A took the lion's share of the points in the Alliance Division Four encounter.

Earlier Bradenham's Hills and Taylor benefited from several dropped catches to make 70 and 80 respectively to post a total that whilst very achievable, the visitors simply didn't bat well enough and other than Alex Cooper (45) and Richard Wood (35), no other batsman cashed on starts against accurate but not altogether penetrative bowling.

Bradenham were good value for their winning draw, however, and good bowling from Bates, Moody and Tucker enabled the home side to inflict Melton's first genuinely poor result of the summer.

Great Melton still lead Division Four from Sprowston A who were not able to fully take advantage of the leaders' slip.

Bradenham A: P Hills c Scott b Hubbard 70, I Gibb b Harris 32, M Taylor not out 80, I Moody c Cook b Hubbard 11, T Tucker st Woods b Scott 1, C Collinson run out 1, A Wilton not out 12; extras 15. Total 222-5. Bowling: N Hubbard 12-2-57-2, M Scott 9-1-44-1, M Sibert 11-0-50-0, O Harris 10-1-38-1, J Wilson 4-0-24-0.

Great Melton: R Wood c-b Moody 35, A Cooper c Wilton b Moody 46, M Godbold b Moody 4, J Wilson lbw Tucker 3, M Cook c Gibb b Tucker 3, G King c Wilston b Bates 7, M SIbert lbw Brown 15, M Scott b Bates 7, O Harris not out 11, S Woods b Watts 5, N Hubbard not out 0; extras 16. Total 158-9. Bowling: Watts 6-1-26-1, Bates 12-5-34-2, Moody 12-3-29-3, Tucker 11-1-44-2, Brown 5-1-20-1.

Great Melton A finally grabbed a win and 23 points after an eight-week drought with an impressive run chase against fellow strugglers Dereham A in Norfolk Alliance Division Five, resulting in a six-wicket win.

There was a late reshuffle as Melton skipper James Dorling had to withdraw to look after his unwell wife and daughter. Chris Elliott stood in as skipper, Jason Whiddett took the wicketkeeping gloves and Gary Coulson stepped up from the Bs.

Melton took the field and in blustery conditions and contained the score well.Jack McCurley bowled a tidy spell

(6-3-13-0) and Ryan Hayward (7-0-18-0) did likewise into the wind but it was the ever-reliable Daryl Godbold who got the breakthrough, bowling Cameron and later removing the dangerous Battelly for 56 to return figures of 3-31 from 12 overs.

Dereham batted steadily and finished with a flourish and their total of 215-6 was more than looked likely but only par at best at Melton Park.

Whiddett and Dave Allum opened Melton's reply but Allum was soon gone for two caught behind. Neal Clarke built an 87-run partnership with Whiddett in which he gradually found his timing and was helped by a regular supply of extras from Dereham. Both batsman were out in quick succession and with 120 needed off the last 20 overs the match was in the balance. But enter Godbold to play a gem of an innings, hitting Head out of the attack with five boundaries in an over.

His rapid 47 with ten boundaries was surpassed though by Kapila's astonishing hitting. Having taken a short while to settle in, he then moved from 0 to 53 in just 12 scoring shots - seven fours, four sixes and just the one single. His final six secured the win, a monster blow over deep mid-wicket as Melton reached 216 with over six overs to spare.

Dereham A: Battelly c Elliott b Godbold 56, Cameron b Godbold 3, Mabee c Elliott b Bunn 23, West c Kapila b Godbold 43, Crisp c McCurley b Coulson 32, Fletcher run out 10, Harbour not out 21, Head not out 9; extras 18. Total 215-6. Bowling: McCurley 6-3-13-0, Gristwood 2-0-16-0, Hayward 12-2-59-0, Godbold 12-2-31-3, Bunn 6-0-42-1, Coulson 5-0-18-1, Clarke 3-0-29-0.

Great Melton A: J Whiddett c fielder b Guida 28, D Allum c Cameron b Raper 2, N Clarke b Head 34, D Godbold c Cameron b Raper 47, C Elliott not out 5; extras 47. Total (39.1 overs) 216-4. Bowling: Crisp 8-1-34-0, Raper 10-1-32-1, Guida 11-0-56-1, Harbour 3-0-12-0, Head 6-0-47-1, Mabee 1.1-0-16-0.

Great Melton C (7 points) lost to Garboldisham B (26 points) by 152

runs at Shadwell in Norfolk League Division Seven.

The C team's three-week run of victories was ended by Division Seven leaders, Garboldisham B. Unavailability throughout the club took its toll on the fourth team who had no chance of chasing down Garboldisham's 267.

Alistair Shepherd (60) and P Baker (47) were particularly severe on Melton's young bowlers but there was a sterling effort by Leo DeSalis whose 6-64 took him past Ali Wardale in to second place in the club's overall list of wicket-takers.

At 200-9 Melton felt they had done reasonably well but a missed chance by wicket-keeper Steve Clarke proved costly as D Witting, scored 42 to take the game out of Melton's reach.

Adding batting points to their five bowling points was Melton's main aim but, in the end, they acquired only two. Clarke struggled for 32 overs scoring 24, skipper Steve Phoenix played some good shots in his 33 and DeSalis scored a quick 20 but the last four wickets went for two runs and Melton were bowled out for 115, D Fiddler helping himself to a late hat-trick.

Garboldisham B: D Fidler c Phoenix b DeSalis 0, T Ling lbw DeSalis 4, S Taylor c Clarke b DeSalis 2, P Baker b Woolrich 47, J Stevenson b Woolrich 10, A Shepherd c Gristwood b DeSalis 60, P Barnes c Phoenix b Bickel 8, D Taylor c Wilson b DeSalis 32, M Allin c Gristwood b DeSalis 6, D Witting lbw Phoenix 42, J Rogers not out 15; extras 41. Total 267. Bowlling: L DeSalis 12-1-64-6, K Mason 8-1-55-0, C Woolrich 6-0-25-2, J Bickel 4-0-26-1, K Frazer 4-0-15-0, T Smith 2-0-31-0, S Wilson 3-0-13-0, J Mellor 4-0-21-0, S Phoenix 0.1-0-0-1.

Great Melton C: S Clarke c-b Rogers 24, C Woolrich b Rogers 0, J Bickel c Fiddler b Witting 3, K Frazer lbw Rogers 0, T Smith c D Taylor B Allin 3, S Phoenix c Allin b Ling 33, C Gristwood c Ling b Shepherd 2, L DeSalis lbw Fiddler 20, J Mellor st Stevenson b Fiddler 0, K Mason st Stevenson b Fiddler 0, S Wilson not out 0; extras 30. Total 115. Bowling: D Witting 8-0-24-1, J Rogers 12-4-20-3, M Allin 6-1-25-1, D Taylor 5-0-11-0, P Barnes 2-0-12-0, T Ling 5-0-16-0, D Fiddler 2-0-4-3, A Shepherd 1-1-0-1.

Great Melton U15 beat Belton U15 by seven wickets at Melton Park in the South Norfolk Community League.

Melton U15's prolific opening pair of George King and Chris Greenslade made chasing a total of 108 in 16 overs look remarkably easy. Both were quick to punish any bad bowling as Greenslade raced to 55 not out before retiring.

King was just five runs short of his own half-century when Toby Wyatt hit the winning four in the 12th over. Earlier Melton's bowling and fielding had been a little below-par with the quicker bowlers tending to bowl too short or too wide, a tactic that was punished by Belton's R Tirianna who batted well for his 58 not out. Stuart Wilson was the pick of the seamers with 3-0-19-1 but it was Joe Bickel's leg spin that caused the batsmen most problems as his figures 3-1-5-1 showed. G Savoury scored 15 and H Harris' one scoring shot was a six as Belton totalled 108-2 but it wasn't enough as Melton bounced back from last week's defeat against Garboldisham.