Melton U13s beat Diss by 20 runs at Diss in the first round of the ECB competition.

MELTON U13s, put into bat by Diss, started well, with opening batsman Rob Smith (30 retired) batting maturely to allow his partner Joe Greenslade (27) and then Conner Stearman(30 retired) to play more attacking shots.

With six overs to go and wickets in hand, Alex Tonnison (6) and Luke Marchant (7) went in with licence to attack the bowling, which they did, before both being bowled. Alex Rennie hit a quick nine runs and Ben Singleton(0 no) finished the innings on 127 for three.

Melton's bowlers worked hard, backed up with lots of effort from the fielders. Once opening batsman Spencer Davey retired, wickets started to fall, the first being a direct hit run out by Alex Tonnison, who also bowled a maiden over. There were two wickets for Alex Rennie, both clean bowled, one for Connor Stearman, also clean bowled and a stumping, and run out for wicket keeper Greenslade. With all the other bowlers bowling well, Diss finished their innings on 107 for seven, 20 runs short.

Great Melton U11s beat Old Buckenham U11s by 10 runs at Melton Park in the Terry Moore Trophy.

LUKE Marchant took five wickets for one run in 12 balls to snatch victory for Great Melton U11s against Old Buckenham. Chasing 230 to win, Old Bucks were cruising at 262 for three, a net score of 247, and all the last Old Bucks' batsmen had to do was to avoid being out.

Melton skipper Ryan Howard had left himself and Marchant to bowl the last four overs, however, and what an impact they had. Ryan grabbed a wicket with the first ball of his spell and Luke took two, both clean bowled, to suddenly give Melton's youngsters an unexpected sniff of victory. With the first ball of the final over Luke sent the bails flying again to tie the scores, before a brilliant caught and bowled nudged Melton ahead.

He made victory safe with his fifth wicket to complete a sensational performance, giving him fugures of 3-1-6-5, as Buckenham ended on 269 for 10. While Marchant took top honours, Arvid Shanmugam (3-1-12-1), Fergus Hughes (2-1-5-2), Tom Moye (2-1-1-0) and Craig Wilson (2-0-10-1) all bowled well, while Connor Jermyn did a good job in his first attempt at keeping wicket. Earlier Melton scored 274 for nine, with Bucks wicket-keeper T Poole having a good day with three stumpings and two run outs. Tom Moye was top batsman for Melton with nine, extras being the highest scorer. M Bint took three for 15 and T Martin two for six for Old Buckenham.

Great Melton U11s beat Garboldisham U11s by seven wickets at Melton Park in the South Norfolk Community League

AFTER two postponements, Melton U11s got their South Norfolk Community League campaign off to a winning start, producing an impressive fielding display to restrict Garboldisham to 57 for six. Arvind Shanmugam took two for 11, Ryan Howard one for two in three excellent overs,

Craig Wilson one for four and Logan Stearman one for four. Fergus Hughes, opening Melton's reply, then batted very sensibly hitting three boundaries in his 19 before retiring, with Melton on the verge of victory. Skipper Howard (five not out) saw Melton home with 2.3 overs to spare.