Melton C lose out

Great Melton C (7 pts) lost to Norwich Union B (24 pts) by two wickets at Britannia Barracks in the Lucas Fettes Norfolk League Division Seven.

Melton C lost the toss and were put into bat.

George King got off to a flying start and punished any loose bowling early on. Norwich Union B's bowlers then regained control for a spell where Melton struggled to score.

M Howard (13) was the first wicket down at 40 which brought Srini Krishnamurthy to the crease and he soon upped the tempo and his partnership with George King put on 46 runs before King perished having scored 39 valuable runs.

At the 20-over mark Melton were well placed at 86 for two, however although there were some contributions from all the young Melton side only Graeme Button managed double figures and, once Srini Krishnamurthy was out for 45, wickets fell fairly regularly and Melton were all out for 149 in the 39th over. Skipper Anand led the way for the bowlers taking four for 36.

Melton took to the field knowing that they needed to work hard to defend their total. Young Darshan Rai bowled his two spells economically without reward 8-1-17-0 but Rob Brooker was the pick of the bowling for Melton returning 12-5-16-5.

With wickets tumbling and some erratic running from the Union batsmen Melton grew in confidence and at drinks had the opposition at 75 for five.

Once they removed the hard-hitting Akshat for 32 the game looked to be edging in the visitors' favour. This was not to be as Skidhar 42 not out held his nerve to nurse the tail to achieve victory with two wickets in hand.

On reflection, this was a fair result with Melton denying the opposition for 43 overs with some good individual performances from Darshan Rai, Chris Greenslade behind the stumps and an excellent fifer from Rob Brooker. Melton know how close they came to victory and can reflect upon a couple of dropped catches but it was the lack of runs that ultimately determined the result.