Great Melton CC round-up

Waddell's pace and bounce was too hot for the Ashmanhaugh batsman to handle and, with Mark Scott taking two early wickets, the home side were reduced to 69-8. A spirited 46, however, from Ray Stibbon lifted the score past the 100 mark and together with Ian Webster they put on 63 for ninth wicket, before Webster became the last of Mark Scott's three wickets; soon after Oliver Harris bowled Stibbon to close the innings at 142.

In reply, Melton were clinical and, coupled with some wayward bowling, they made short work of the target.

Despite looking assured, young opener George King (7) was dismissed relatively early as he chipped a ball in to the on-side, but that was to be Ashmanhaugh's only success.

Dave Allum joined Richard Wood and they took the bowling apart.

Wood, who had earlier been dropped at first slip, made the most from the home side's error and was particularly severe on Metcalfe, taking him for 18 in one over as he raced to yet another half century.

Allum looked equally comfortable and struck three sweet drives down the ground before ending the match with a six over long-on.

The gulf between the two sides was large and underlined not just by a nine-wicket victory, but also that Melton needed just 15 overs to reach Ashmanhaugh's total.

Ashmanhaugh: B Everett c Wood b Waddell 10, R Broughton c King b Scott 10, J Everett c Wood b Waddell 1, A Metcalfe b Waddell 5, D Musgrove b Scott 4, R Gant b Waddell 0, T Daynes c Cook b Waddell 5, R Stibbon b Harris 46, R Fletcher c Scott b Waddell 8, I Webster c Stearman b Scott 21, J Ahmed not out 0; extras 26. Total 142. Bowling: R Waddell 12-1-42-6, M Scott 12-0-44-3, D Bunn 4-0-13-0, O Harris 5.2-0-33-1, P Stearman 4-0-6-0.

Great Melton: R Wood not out 71, G King c J Everett b Metcalfe 7, D Allum not out 31; extras 39. Total 148-1. Bowling: A Metcalfe 6-0-40-1, T Daynes 3-0-19-0, J Everett 3-0-43-0, J Ahmed 2-0-22-0, I Webster 2-0-20-0.

Great Melton A surged into second place in Norfolk Alliance Division Five after ruthlessly demolishing Swardeston/CEYMS by 10 wickets at Melton Park, their third consecutive home win.

The result, coupled with Rocklands' surprise win at morning leaders Aldborough, means that Melton are now just four points off the top. Lee Whiddett won a useful toss and decided to bowl first and in-form Ian Bettridge made that decision pay dividends when he had opener Reynolds caught behind in the fifth over.

Jon Olpin looked to be going well but was dismissed by Ryan Hayward (1-35) thanks to a fine diving catch by wicket-keeper Matt Clarke. A third wicket then went to leave Swardeston struggling at 61-3 as Bettridge had Snelling caught and bowled. Bettridge went on to record excellent figures of 2-29 and is proving a real asset this season.

Change bowler Nick Gristwood (1-13) then produced his best spell this season with the ball as he bowled with good accuracy and pace, and he grabbed the key wicket of Ebbage (30).

Rob Sims came on for Bettridge and the accurate spinner proved as difficult to get away as ever. He quickly removed Austin (40) thanks to a fine boundary catch from Martin Bunn as well as Kennard and Levinson for ducks, leaving Swardeston in disarray at 97-7 after 31 overs. There was also an encouraging bowling display from young A-team debutant Michael Farmer (5-0-14-0) who was also excellent in the field.

A run-out and two wickets for Whiddett (2-5) meant Swardeston were all out for 119.

Melton went about their run chase in indomitable style. With Jason Whiddett playing the anchor role, Martin Bunn produced by far his best batting display of the season, bludgeoning 17 fours and a six on his way to 82 not out.

The two batsmen levelled the score at 119 before Whiddett blocked out the last three balls of the over, allowing Bunn to smash the first ball from D Parry for six to secure Melton an extra point by making 125-0.

Swardeston/CEYMS: J Olpin c Clarke b Hayward 17, P Reynolds c Clarke b Bettridge 7, R Ebbage lbw Gristwood 30, T Snelling c-b Bettridge 4, M Austin c Bunn b Sims 40, D Parry run out 4, C Kennard c-b Sims 0, A Levinson lbw Sims 0, R Olpin c Clarke b L Whiddett 2, N Taylor st Clarke b L Whiddett 8, O Kennard not out 0; extras 7. Total (39.2 overs) 119. Bowling: I Bettridge 12-3-29-2, R Hayward 7-0-35-1, N Gristwood 6-1-13-1, R Sims 8-2-14-3, M Farmer 5-0-14-0, L Whiddett 1.2-0-5-2.

Great Melton A: J Whiddett not out 33, M Bunn not out 82; extras 10. Total ( 23.1 overs) 125. Bowling: O Kennard 6-1-19-0, R Olpin 8-0-40-0, T Snelling 2-0-16-0, A Levinson 4-1-19-0, C Kennard 2-0-16-0, N Taylor 1-0-8-0, D Parry 0.1-0-6-0.

Great Melton B (26 points) beat Bungay A (6 points) by four wickets at Town Close School in Norfolk League Division Three.

With Woody Loines away, stand-in skipper Chris McKay led Great Melton B to victory over a slightly weaker Bungay A side compared to previous seasons. After winning the toss and choosing to field,

McKay used youngsters Navin Sharma and Craig Woolrich to open the bowling, in the absence of Gary Coulson. They did a good job but, at 80-3 of 26 overs, it looked as if Bungay could keep enough wickets in hand to post a good total.

However, change bowlers Jake Mardell and Fawad Kaiser came into the attack and, bowling tightly in tandem and helped with some tidy fielding, both finished good spells with three wickets apiece as Bungay were dismissed for 149.

In reply, James Dorling (6) lost his wicket in the third over bringing Eusha Fawad (25) to the crease. Looking in a positive mood Fawad took on the Bungay bowlers on a slow but unpredictable wicket, leaving well and punishing the bad ball. After hitting a huge six over long-on Fawad tried to repeat the stroke and was caught in the deep.

Two more wickets meant Melton were wobbling but Jon Moxon and skipper Chris McKay (16no) steadied the ship until a silly run out saw Moxon depart for 33. George Ducker (19) carried on and, when he was out, Melton needed just 25 to win off 16 overs. It was left to McKay and Fawad Kaiser (6no) to see them over the line in the 35th over.

Bungay A: T Chang c Fawad b Mardell 38, C Cudden c McKay b Sharma 5, D McPhillie c Clarke b Kaiser 11, J Masters c Kaiser b Mardell 8, S Davey c Dorling b Kaiser 16, D Davies c Fawad b Mardell 11, D Mowday c Woolrich b Sharma 6, W Hunt b Sharma 0, R Ferguson not out 22, A Wright c Moxon b Woolrich 5, L Pawsey st Ducker b Kaiser 7; extras 16. Total 149. Bowling: N Sharma 11-2-26-3, C Woolrich 10-1-40-1, J Mardell 12-2-51-3, F Kaiser 11.2-3-26-3.

Great Melton B: N Clarke c McPhillie b Pawsey 19, J Dorling c Masters b Mowday 6, E Fawad c Davey b Wright 25, J Moxon run out 33, T Wyatt c Hunt b Wright 0, C McKay not out 16, G Ducker c-b Pawsey 19, F Kaiser not out 6; extras 26. Total 150-6. Bowling: L Pawsey 11-1-35-3, D Mowday 10-2-33-0, A Wright 6-0-29-2, S Davey 6-0-38-0, R Ferguson 1.1-0-12-0.

Great Melton C (5 points) lost to Brisley (25 points) by six wickets at Brisley in Norfolk League Division Six.

Melton C have had a very good season so far but, on Saturday at Brisley, they produced their worst display of the summer. The home side outbowled, outfielded and outbatted an out-of-sorts Melton to record a deserved six-wicket victory.

With Mally Howard on holiday, stand-in skipper Steve Phoenix lost the toss and Melton were asked to bat.

Steve Clarke and Ed Allen (18) gave them a solid start and, despite the loss of Allen and Tom Hunter (7), Melton moved smoothly to 82-2 at drinks – a solid enough platform with Kevin Frazer (37) going well.

In the over after drinks, however, the patient Clarke was dismissed for 23 and Frazer and Button (4) soon followed. Simon Brett, batting well for his 43, and Steve Phoenix (11) took Melton to 142-5 with six overs left but Steve Kay (4-32) and J Nash (3-17) then brought about a collapse that saw Melton bowled out for a below-par 157.

It needed a disciplined bowling and fielding performance if Melton were to restrict the home side but, apart from Kyle Mason (6-3-15-0) and Tom Smith (8-3-20-3) Melton's bowlers were unable to demonstrate any real control. They were not helped by a series of dropped catches.

Phoenix couldn't hold onto a very difficult chance offered by Shoesmith off the second ball he faced, and the Brisley number three was dropped on three further occasions. He made Melton pay as he scored 85, defending the straight balls and hitting anything short to the boundary. Shoesmith and Nash (39) took Brisley close to victory and, although both fell close to the end, R Steele hit the winning four in the 33rd over.

Great Melton C: S Clarke c Steele b Kay 23, E Allen c Fordham b Steele 18, T Hunter c Clarke b Shoesmith 7, K Frazer lbw Kay 37, S Brett b Nash 43, G Button b Kay 4, S Phoenix b Kay 11, J Bickel c Fordham b Nash 4, J Mellor c Greef b Nash 0, K Mason not out 0, T Smith run out 1; extras 8. Total 157. Bowling: R Steele 6-1-29-1, A Greef 11-1-31-0, S Shoesmith 12-2-46-1, S Kay 10-1-32-4, J Nash 4-0-17-3.

Brisley: D Steele c-b Smith 8, P Curl c Clarke b Brett 2, S Shoesmith lbw Smith 85, J Nash c Hunter b Allen 39, R Steele not out 12, A Greef not out 1; extras 13. Total 160-4. Bowling: K Mason 6-3-15-0, S Brett 4-0-27-1, T Smith 8-3-20-2, J Bickel 3-0-22-0, J Mellor 3-0-18-0, E Allen 4-0-29-1, K Frazer 4.2-0-23-0.

Melton Phoenix U17 beat Diss Mafia U17 by seven wickets at Melton Park in the Bob Carter Junior Cup.

Viv Sharma made a welcome return after almost a year away from cricket, scoring 55 as Melton Phoenix beat Diss Mafia in this second match of the group stage of the Bob Carter Junior Cup.

Diss won the toss and decided to bat but Melton opening bowler Nick Gristwood (4.5-1-15-3) made an early breakthrough when he bowled C Pask in the first over.

Simon Brett (5-0-14-0) provided good bowling support to keep the pressure on the Diss batsmen but a change of bowling led to the breaking of the Diss innings with Daniel Hayward (3-15) taking the wicket of M Brawn (34) and Craig Woolrich (2-18) seeing off the middle-order batsmen.

Team captain George Bunn (3-0-14-0) introduced some spin and then Michael Farmer (2-0-12-1) and the returning Gristwood brought the Diss innings to an end.

There were useful batting contributions from A Cotton (12) and B Goldsmith (17) in the Diss total of 97 runs. The weather looked threatening as rain clouds gathered and so it was decided to take a later stoppage for tea.

Melton then set about the task of chasing down the Diss total and Viv Sharma immediately found his old form with a lovely knock of 55 before being bowled by C Pask, George Bunn (10) and Nick Gristwood (8) saw Melton past the Diss score just before the heavy rain started.

Great Melton U13 beat Diss U13 by 31 runs at Diss in the Alan Bridgewater Trophy.

Diss, having chosen to bat first, found scoring difficult due the accurate Melton bowling, with the first pair only scoring nine runs of the first four overs with a further six runs coming from extras.

The second pair fared a little better scoring 20 runs. Surprisingly, with Melton bowling so well, there was no reward for the bowlers with the ball just not carrying to the fielders or just missing the stumps. Their hard work finally paid off and wickets started to fall, the Diss third and fourth pairs being dismissed six times.

Luke Marchant took 3-12 in three overs, Bradley Russell, 1-7 in two overs the other two wickets came from a run-out and a stumping by Joe Greenslade. Diss scored 280-6, a net total of 232 off their 16 overs.

Sam Carding got Melton off to a good start scoring 21 but Melton's second pair of Ben Carding and Ben Singleton were out three times. Connor Stearman and Marcus Mawby put on 16 runs without losing a wicket and although Greenslade was bowled Melton, with 31 extras, finished on 295-4 (263 net) and won by 31 runs.

Great Melton U13 beat Fakenham U13 by 20 runs at Fakenham in the ECB National Competition.

Melton raced to 35 off the first five overs with Joey Greenslade and Ben Carding playing some fine shots and finding the boundary 10 times in their partnership. Greenslade (32) and Carding (31) were then forced to retire in quick succession having reached 30 but, although Connor Stearman was bowled for one, Sam Carding (20) and Alex Rennie (21) played some nicely timed shots and saw Melton to a competitive score of 140-1.

Melton's Ben Carding trapped the opening batsman lbw in the second over. Bradley Russell then bowled the new batsman in his first over for 0. The game started to swing back into Fakenham's favour when big-hitting A Hutchinson came to the crease but, after six fours, he was bowled by Luke Marchant for 27.

A change of bowlers saw Alex and Matt Rennie take a wicket each in the next two overs, swinging the game back towards Melton. In the 13th over Rennie clean bowled De Lucci for 22 and, although C Futter went on to score 30 and retire, with the overs running out and the run rate rising, Melton protected the boundary. Ben Carding took the seventh wicket as Fakenham finished on 120-7, 20 runs short of Melton's score. A great team display.