Great Melton A (23 pts) beat Vauxhall Mallards B (7 pts) by 38 runs in Alliance Division Five.Great Melton A looked to build on their success of the previous week against another fellow Division Five struggler, Vauxhall Mallards B.

Great Melton A (23 pts) beat Vauxhall Mallards B (7 pts) by 38 runs in Alliance Division Five.

Great Melton A looked to build on their success of the previous week against another fellow Division Five struggler, Vauxhall Mallards B.

A solid start was achieved with an opening stand of 49 by Jason Whiddett and Dave Allum, until the latter bowled by a straight one. Whiddett fell uncharacteristically on 42, driving straight to mid-off.

A big score look possible when Clarke hit Hemmings for three fours in one over, but unfortunately one big shot too many cost him after hitting a short ball straight up in the air.

Paul Stearman briefly threatened to make Melton's total a competitive one with a rapid 33 after numerous Melton batsmen failed to trouble the scorers, but after he was run out, the innings fizzled out to 163 all out.

Excellent tight bowling from Ian Bettridge (3-22) and Paul Stearman

(1-19) squeezed the Mallards' innings and supported with good fielding, Melton were able to create lots of pressure on the young Mallards batsmen.

With most of the Melton bowlers contributing with wickets Melton were victorious by 38 runs.

The recent results put a little space between Melton and the relegation positions, but further good results will be required to avoid relegation.

Great Melton A: J Whiddett c Stone b Hunt 42, D Allum b Hartness 18, M Clarke c Stone b Hemmings 20, N Clarke c White b King 0, G King c Stone b Hunt 6, C Elliott b Hunt 8, P Stearman run out 33, G Bunn c Goldsmith b Hartness 2, N Gristwood b C Hartness 4, N Sharma not out 4; I Bettridge lbw Stone 4; extras 21. Total 163. Bowling: B Stone 11.4-3-28-2, D Straw 3-0-20-0, C Hartness 9-1-40-3, B Hunt 12-5-16-3, R Hemmings 3-0-27-1, R King 6-2-23-1.

Vauxhall Mallards B: H Barker c Bunn b Bettridge 16, E Brown b Bettridge 8, R King lbw Bettridge 11, C White run out 1, C Hartness c Clarke b Bunn 10, B Hunt c-b Stearman 5, D Straw c Clarke b Bunn 10, B Stone not out 25, R Hemmings b Gristwood 10, R Amos b Gristwood 0; R Goldsmith run out 4; extras 22. Total 125. Bowling: N Sharma 4-0-22-0, I Bettridge 12-5-22-3, P Stearman 12-3-19-1, G Bunn 7-0-36-2, N Gristwood 3.3-0-15-2.

Great Melton C (9 pts) lost to Lowestoft C (26 pts) by 39 runs at Normanston Park in the Lucas & Fettes Norfolk League Division Seven.

In a game in which 'spirit of cricket' was the winner, there were several notable individual performances by Great Melton and Lowestoft youngsters in the battle of the C teams. Elliot Reynolds with 62 and J Jackman with 50 enabled Lowestoft to put enough runs on the board to give them victory but personal bests with the bat by Owen Spalding, Joe Bickel and Kyle Mason and some excellent bowling by Tom Smith and Josh Mellor also made it a good day for Melton who still picked up nine points in their 39-run defeat.

Lowestoft totalled 203 all out in 44 4 overs thanks mainly to opener Reynolds and a good partnership for the seventh wicket between Jackman and Lowestoft skipper Andy McAvoy (32).

Josh Mellor was impressive with the ball, picking up 3-14 from his six-over spell while Tom Smith took 2-18 from nine overs.

There was a wicket for Spalding (1-20) and it was a busy afternoon for 'the chairman' as Steve Phoenix (3-10) wrapped up the tail, took two catches and hit the stumps to run out Rogers

Melton's batsman struggled, however, against the experience and nagging accuracy of Andy Thompson and by the time he had completed his 12-over spell he had figures of 2-11 and Melton were 67-4.

Spalding hit some good shots in his 16 and figured in a partnership of 47 with Graham Button but, by the time Button was out for 24 all chance of victory had gone and it was a question of playing for bonus points.

Enter Joe Bickle! Advancing down the wicket to the bowlers and playing a series of audacious shots, including attempted reverse sweeps, the 14-year-old kept everybody - including the opposition - entertained with a cameo innings.

Last man Kyle Mason added a few lusty blows of his own as the pair added 50, producing a new C team record last-wicket partnership.

Bickle was finally dismissed for 38 and Mason too had a new personal best of 33 not out as Melton reached 164 and a fourth batting point.

Lowestoft C: E Reynolds c Howard b Mellor 62, Chandika c Mellor b Smith 1, J Rogers run out 4, S Faulkner c Phoenix b Spalding 0, P Graham c Bickel b Mellor 10, L Jackman lbw Mellor 2, J Jackman c-b Phoenix 50, A McAvoy c Howard b Smith 32, H Rogers c Farmer b Phoenix 6, P Richardson lbw Phoenix 6, A Thompson not out 0; extras 30. Total 203. Bowling: T Smith 9-2-18-2, C Woolrich 3-0-15-0, O Spalding 4-0-20-1, M Farmer 5-0-22-0, J Mellor 6-1-14-3, K Mason 11-0-51-0, J Bickel 4-0-26-0, S Phoenix 2 4-0-10-3.

Great Melton C: M Howard c Reynolds b Thompson 20, M Farmer c Reynolds b H Rogers 3, C Woolrich c-b Richardson 1, S Phoenix c Graham b Thompson 1, O Spalding c-b J Jackman 16, G Button b Chandika 24, J Bickel c Chandika b H Rogers 38, C Gristwood b Chandika 7, T Smith b Chandika 0, J Mellor b McAvoy 1, K Mason not out 33; extras 20. Total 164. Bowling: H Rogers 6 1-1-23-2, A Thompson 12-5-11-2, P Richardson 6-0-30-1, J Jackman 4-1-24-1, Chandika 9-1-46-3, A McAvoy 6-1-23-1.

Great Melton U15 beat Saxlingham U15 by six wickets at Saxlingham in the South Norfolk Community League.

Leg spinners, Peter Frazer and Joe Bickel took five of the seven Saxlingham wickets to help bowl out the home side for just 66 in Great Melton U15's six-wicket victory.

Frazer, playing his first match of the season, took 2-20 and Bickel 3-12 after Chris Greenslade's opening burst (2-13) had accounted for Olly Bailey and Will Fleming. Matt Nichols top-scored for Saxlingham with 17.

Melton won the game with relative ease, after losing Bickel early for a duck, as Joe Bush hit an impressive unbeaten 31, including six fours. He was assisted by skipper-for-the-day Toby Wyatt who scored 23 not out in a partnership of 57.