Drayton v Acle 'A' 4th August 2007

Drayton 219-9 Acle 'A' 202 Drayton's recent run of good form continued with a fine all round display seeing them overcome a strong Acle side. Phil Soanes' decision to bat first seemed to be vindicated as openers Philip Wright and Andy Denny added 85 for the first wicket in the first 20 overs - following Wright's run out Andy Hawes carried on the good work and shared in a partnership of 80 in 15 overs with the outstanding Denny. Even after Hawes fell for 27, Gary Smith and Michael Mario-Ghae, along with Denny continued to attack the bowling. Denny eventually reached his fourth career century, including 15 fours and 2 sixes - before holing out to long off. The last four overs saw six wickets fall as Drayton failed to push for the 230-240 score which at one stage had looked possible - their final total of 219-9 still easily representing their highest score of the season.

Acle's reply saw Peter Nobbs, a regular first teamer and V. Cox start carefully against the ever probing Michael Mario-Ghae and Lee Cornfield, before Cox unleashed a string of fine shots in Cornfield's sixth over. Cox eventually fell for 25 to Phil Soanes - but former first team captain Darren Ward took over where he had left off, and runs continued to flow. After 34 overs, Acle were ideally placed at 141-1, however just like the previous week at Bungay, Drayton discovered one wicket can change a game. Nobbs was bowled by Gary Foreman for 52, followed shortly thereafter by Ward, mistiming a hook off Mario-Ghae for 62, and then the dangerous Danny Carter was run out by Andy Denny without scoring. Acle still had players capable of winning the game for them, however Geoffrey Handley was smartly caught at long off, and the challenge seemed up. A further flurry of wickets - including two further run outs, and three clean bowled by Phil Soanes saw the visitors bowled out for 202. Soanes finished with the fine figures of 4-35. With the amount of teams to be relegated from Division One still to be clarified - possibly long after the season finishes, Drayton know they have to pull out all of the stops in their three remaining games.