A resurgent Aldborough A travelled to top of the table Rocklands A hoping to follow on from a great win against title contenders Old Buckenham B the week before. In the same fixture earlier in the season Rocklands defeated Aldborough by over 150 runs so the home team were strong favourites going into the game. Rocklands skipper Doe won the toss and elected to bat on a good wicket. Kay (11) and Dunning (35) got them off to a good start reaching 57-0 after 14 overs. At this stage Mack entered the fray and took two wickets in his first two overs bowling both the openers between bat and pad. The usually strong Rocklands middle order could not get going against some good bowling from youngsters Wright and Seaman while the ever reliable Ray Smith bowled tight lines from the other end and Aldborough reduced them to 88-4. Then, in one extraordinary over, Holroyd took 3 wickets including the big hitting Phillips and Rocklands were reeling at 101-7 after 31 overs. A much needed and gutsy partnership of 49 between Allen (27) and Pearce (13) brought the score back to respectability but Rocklands never full recovered and were bowled out for 159 with Mack taking 4-24 and Holroyd 3-39.

In reply Aldborough lost Nicholson first ball driving straight to extra cover which bought Cannon and Fisher together. The combination of Cannon’s stroke-play and Fisher’s stubborn resistance thwarted all that Rocklands threw at them and Cannon reached his fifty in the 25^th over. Young spinner S Pearce then tempted Cannon into a rash charge down the wicket and he was stumped for 56 leaving Aldborough with 60 to get from 18 overs. As Fisher continued his resistance, he was fleetingly joined by Mack (11) and Robinson (15), as the score ticked closer to the target eventually leaving Fisher and youngster Briggs with 15 to get from 6 overs. The veteran blocker batted on and a huge sweep for four in the 41st over brought the runs needed down to 8 from 4 overs. Briggs was undone going for a big hit leaving Ray Smith to hit the winning runs and throw the title race wide open as Aldborough’s incredible turnaround continues. Fisher led the teams off unbeaten on 55 in a stubborn 42 over innings of the highest quality. In the final game of the season Aldborough face the now top of the table Watton and their rivals will be praying The Green’s winning run continues!

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