GREAT Melton made it two wins in two with a crushing nine-wicket defeat of Beccles A on Saturday.Melton were invited to bowl first against a young-looking Beccles A side who survived the first nine overs, adding 28 for the first wicket in what was to prove to be their biggest partnership of the day until Nathan Devlin took two wickets in two balls.

GREAT Melton made it two wins in two with a crushing nine-wicket defeat of Beccles A on Saturday.

Melton were invited to bowl first against a young-looking Beccles A side who survived the first nine overs, adding 28 for the first wicket in what was to prove to be their biggest partnership of the day until Nathan Devlin took two wickets in two balls.

David Bunn then got in on the act, having Barber caught in the gully by Jason Whiddett.

Neil Hubbard recorded two wicket maidens in his eventual 4-19 as wickets continued to tumble and there was also a wicket for Mark Scott, having Fisher stumped down the leg side for the ninth wicket.

S Andrews was the only Beccles batsman to offer any resistance and was his team's top scorer, compiling 31 until Hubbard bowled him to end the away team's innings on 98.

Beccles opening bowlers Aldridge and Fisher extracted some life from the pitch early in Melton's reply, but batsmen Richard Wood and Jason Whiddett stood firm and runs began to flow. Beccles rang the changes in an effort to take wickets but could only remove Wood with the score on 91.

Whiddett secured the victory in the 23rd over with a boundary to take his score to 43 added to three catches in the first innings to earn him the

man-of-the-match award.

Great Melton A made it four wins out of four with a comprehensive 189 run victory against an understrength Overstrand side. Once again Melton batted first and a new-look opening partnership of Tony Alborough and Lee Whiddett laid the platform.

Alborough should have been sent back early on but a simple catch was grassed and from there he unleashed a barrage of lofted straight drives.

Whiddett played a more patient innings on a track showing some variable bounce but kept the strike rotating and whipped two boundaries though his favoured mid-wicket region. When he fell for 35 the stand was worth 107 from 25 overs.

Marcus Godbold only managed nine and Martyn Cook a brisk 12 before

Alborough's knock ended on 72 including 10 fours and three sixes.

The mini-collapse brought Chris Elliott and Paul Stearman together and the pair racked up a half-century stand in just six overs.

Stearman's 26 accelerated the score past 200 and Elliott brought up his second consecutive 50 as he finished unbeaten on 57, featuring eight fours.

The total of 245-6 was a formidable one and Overstrand's reply never threatened it as Ian Bettridge (3-15) removed the openers with smart catches from Stearman and Scott Andrews.

Ian Parkin offered some resistance with his 18 but only one other batsman reached double figures as the home team collapsed from 36-2 to 56 all out.

Gary Coulson (1-4) was as tight as ever with his bowling and Duncan Osborne (1-19) could have had more reward but needs to iron out his no-ball problems.

Scott Andrews (2-1) added to his earlier good catching with a wicket with his first delivery and Stearman (3-10), who bagged two wickets in two balls, completed the impressive five-man Melton attack.

This was the ruthless display that Elliott had called for from his side and sets up the team for this week's top-of-the-table clash with Saxlingham.