Double Delight for Greens!
Aldborough Green was celebrating on Saturday evening as both teams triumphed to keep alive their promotion hopes. Read on for all the weekend’s action…
Norfolk League Division One
Aldborough 163 for 7 (23) beat Kirkley 160 for 7 (7) by 3 wickets
Aldborough continued their winning habit with a stuttering 3 wicket victory over lowly Kirkley to stay within breathing distance of league leaders Winterton.
Batting first the Lowestoft side started cautiously. It was apparent that that they bolstered their opening positions with players who usually bat down the order in an attempt to see off the in form Reeve and Board. This strategy paid some dividends but did not bring runs.
Board, in imperious form, returned figures of 1 for 1 from his first five overs and Reeve although decidedly out of rhythm 1 for 8. Both continued to trouble the Kirkley batsman but could not make further breakthroughs and the score stood at 25 for 2 from 15 overs. Bacon continued his miserly form but was victim of the same disease that plagued Board – being dropped catches. In previous weeks the out fielding had been excellent but simple chances were missed and ground fielding for the most part was tired and sloppy.
Sayer, Nicholls and Dingle supporting Bacon were unable to make inroads and the Kirkley team battled their way to 110 for 4 from 35 overs. Board and Reeve returned and continued the squeeze and at 135 for 6 with two overs it looked as if the innings was going to end in damp squib fashion. However John Holmes smashed an excellent 22 runs off Boards last over before Reeve removed his middle stump to leave Kirkley on 160 for 7.
In reply Allan smashed his second ball for six and Cooper raced to double figures in quick time. The score was 38 off 8 before Allan was caught at deep long off. The impressive Holmes sent Plumb packing and exerted sufficient pressure on Fell to cause the left hander to run himself out on a suicidal single. Captain Reeve joined Cooper at 64 for 3 off 20 over and raced quickly to 32 with a series of eight fours. Cooper played across a straight one when the game look all but won for a belligerent 55 and Bacon hit the seventh ball of an over to mid off to see Aldborough stumble a little to 126 for 5.
Reeve and Nicholls, as in previous weeks, steadied the ship again and were within 20 of victory when the Aldborough skipper was given out hit wicket, for dropping his bat onto the stumps after top edging a short ball into his face for a breezy 47. Kirkley sensed a chance of causing an upset but this was short lived when Saunders came in and plundered a few boundaries and despite being bowled got the team close enough to the line for Sayer and the impressive Nicholls to take Aldborough home.
KNIGHTS SPORTING LTD Man of the Match: Paul Reeve
Norfolk League Division 5
Old Buckenham B (130/10) lost to Aldborough A (131/5) by 5 wickets
With Watton well clear at the top of the table the second promotion spot has become the focal point of the league as four or five teams fight for the runners up spot. Top of the pile going into this weekend are Aldborough A who, along with their first team, are very much in the hunt for promotion this season. With Old Buckenham lying third this was set to be a crunch fixture.
On a green but even wicket OB wn the toss and elected to bat. In a very rarely seen event there was a run out off the very first ball with Tuthill producing a fine pick up and throw from square leg to remove the dangerous Pape. Tight line and length bowling from Holroyd and Ash made scoring difficult for the batsmen, although Newbury was starting to find the middle of the bat. Brown (9) and Newbury (46) started to build a solid partnership taking the score to 44 for 1 off 14 overs. Ash struck in the final over of his spell to remove Brown though and Perry-Warnes and Mack took over the bowling, continuing to build pressure. Good fielding and bowling combined slowed the run rate and OB were restricted to 81 for 3 after 30 overs. Chairman Tim Knight joined the attack and instantly struck as OB looked to up the rate of scoring. Knight’s wily bowling frustrated the batsmen and one by one they swung and missed leaving the off break bowler with excellent figures of 4 for 15 off 6. Despite one or two lusty blows from Asim (20) the score did not look enough on a decent track as OB were skittled for 130.
In reply a great start from Mack (28) and Skinner (36) saw Aldborough A cruising at 67/0 after 18 overs. Mack fell to a good ball from Asim and Perry-Warnes followed him bringing Cannon to the wicket with Skinner. After three boundaries in an over Cannon (14) fell going for one shot too many and was caught well at mid wicket. With Skinner holing out and Ben Briggs not troubling the scorers it was left to the experienced pairing of Holroyd (12*) and Tim Briggs (17*) to steer the side home with five overs to spare.
Knights Sporting Ltd Man of the Match - Tim Knight
Sunday’s game was called off due to a wet groundsman