Hethersett and Tas Valley's bid to become Norfolk Over-40s champions ended at the final hurdle on Sunday when they lost to Bircham in the final at Flordon.

Earlier Valley had comfortably beaten Drayton in the semi-final but they found Bircham just too strong for them.

Bircham batted first and notched a highly competitive 165-3 in their 20 overs with some lusty hitting and that proved too much for Hethersett who lost wickets at regular intervals and were bowled out for 131 in 17.4 overs to give Bircham victory by 34 runs.

Earlier Valley had defeated Drayton by six wickets in the semi-final. Drayton scored 117-6 and Valley replied with 118-4. In the other semi-final Drayton beat Tivetshall.

The event featured the three geographical winners — Hethersett and Tas Valley, Bircham and Drayton — and the best runner-up, Tivetshall.

There was some consolation for Valley as they received the South Norfolk Over-40s Trophy for winning their section.

The day also featured a barbecue and bar and it is likely that it made over £300 for club funds.

During the day the Valley club received a new defibrillator for use both at the cricket club and Taswood Lakes Fisheries at Flordon.

The machine has been presented to the club by president and Taswood Lakes owner Richard Ellis. Richard, known to everyone as Senior, was presented with a commemorative cup to mark his decision to retire from playing at a special fun day match featuring those who have represented the club's fourth team this season.

The player-of-the-month award for August was presented to Luke Matthews for his outstanding batting for the third team.

The club has two more important dates coming up in the remainder of September.

On September 17 the youth section will be holding its annual presentation event and on September 24 the chairman's 11 will be taking on the president's 11 in the final match of the season.

The Norfolk Alliance's player of the month for July was Alex Sayer from Martham. His performances of 128, 60, 67 and 4-36 helped Martham stay top of Division Three and they subsequently won the title. Other notable displays came from Tom Brice (Lowestoft), Ben Smart (Saham Toney) and Jasper Payne (Swaffham).