Greens sea to Yarmouth!
Norfolk League Division One
Aldborough 259 for 5 (26) beat Great Yarmouth 63 for 10 (3)
After the disaster that was the previous weeks defeat to previously bottom team Kirkley, Aldborough faced newly entrenched Great Yarmouth and banished their cricket demons in emphatic and glorious style. At the forefront of what turned out to be a crushing victory was Kevin Bacon and it was he who cooked the Seasiders Goose.
Unknown to Aldborough, Winterton suffered a heavy defeat and Hardingham failed to secure maximum points so being inserted on a very green track was at the onset a tricky task but proved to be the only way the Greens could take maximum points.
Cooper and Allan set about the task of building a platform for big runs and the pair raced to sixty off ten overs. Cooper was the main battering ram pulling and driving freely whilst Allan rotated and gave freely of the strike. The impressive Vickers broke the deadlock and Yarmouth’s nemesis Allan was bowled for 28. Veteran left hander Tony Fell20joined Cooper and the pair built a strong partnership. Fell showed his experience and when called upon to take the pressure off Cooper he did so with ease.
The former skipper looked set and in no trouble scoring at a run a ball when he got under a delivery that stopped and was out caught by Vickers for an excellent 44. Captain Reeve joined Cooper but was soon at the crease with Nicholls when the opener’s wicket fell for 66 with the score still on 166. With ten overs to go the inform Nicholls sparkled with a quick cameo before falling to a slower ball from Oxborough. Reeve had Bacon then proceeded to push the score past 200 with a series of boundaries and stepped on the accelerator. The pair put on 56 runs in 23 balls before Bacon unselfishly went for yet another boundary for 22. Reeve stepped up to the mark and carried on the good work to help take 21 off the last over and finish on a measured 40 not out and the team score on 259 for 5.
The task was clearly too great for the visitors and it was clear that damage limitation was the order of the day. Four consecutive maidens from Reeve and two from Bacon put sufficient pressure on the Yarmouth batsman. It was 24 though before the house of cards began to fall which was instigated by the insatiable Bacon. Bowling with fire and aggression and with impressively tight lines he began picking off the resistance offered by the Seasiders. With Reeve bowling through and posting figures of 12-4-15-2, Bacon truly sizzled. His last eight overs produced only five runs and he claimed five wickets to finish with man of the match figures 12-5-19-6. When his work was over it was left to Tom Seaman and Troy Allan to mop up the tail and roll over Yarmouth for a meagre 63 runs and secure a maximum points victory to leave Aldborough within 2 points of top spot.
Aldborough 163-7 beat New Buckenham 158-3 by 1 wicket
Aldborough travelled to New Buckenham just a week after them coming to Aldborough with only 9 players to start off with. The toss was won by Aldborough and they decided to have a bowl. After Tuthill’s excellent figures last week him and the returning Bodymore opened the bowling. Tuthill finished with figures of 12-5-29-0 and Bodymore got 9-2-23-0. Ash Moakes made a promising debut but the only people to get wickets were Ray Smith 12-5-27-2 and Sue Cook 3-0-21-1. New Buckenham’s T Hardwick batted well for 3 hours for 69 runs.
With 162 the target Aldborough started well with Skinner getting 39 but he didn’t get much assistance from Fisher or Swinbourne. T Briggs(29) and Ray Smith(18) set things up for a tight finish with Tuthill already at the crease, Cook came and went for 0. Bodymore walked out to the middle with his highest score this year 5 runs. The pair ran superbly well between the wickets taking the singles nearly every ball and really putting the pressure back on the bowling side. With 2 overs to go they needed 14 runs. In the penultimate over they really ran hard and took advantage of the defensive field stopping the boundaries and giving the singles and a two. With Bodymore facing the final over, spinner Khan bowled with his famous last words “Don’t worry skip”, Bodymore Smashed the 1st ball for a huge 6 which tied the scores level and then the second ball was put away for 4 to win the game.
Joint Men of the match with really nothing to choose between them was J. Tuthill who finished with 22 not out and D.Bodymore who got 18 not out.