Drayton v Great Melton 5th May 2007

Great Melton 276-3 Drayton 167-7 The first team were comprehensively outplayed by Simon Woods' very impressive Great Melton side. The visitors batted first and it soon became clear that a large score could be on the cards - three Great Melton batsman recorded half centuries, including an outstanding innings of 72 from 19 year old Johnny Cooper. He quickly latched onto anything remotely wayward in line or length and dispatched them to the boundary with awesome power. His only lapses came when Phil Soanes tossed the ball up outside his off stump - otherwise this was a flawless innings until Michael Mario-Ghae picked up a smart return catch,

Drayton's attempts to get after the Great Melton total was quickly undermined by some miserly seam bowling from Ian Bettridge and Johnny Howard. Philip Wright and Craig Knowles departed early and it was left to Andy Hawes (51) and Lee Cornfield (22) to steady the ship. Despite some lusty hits by Hawes, Stewart Forton, Phil Soanes and Michael Mario-Ghae, it was left to the calm head of Paul Eggett to steer Drayton to the fourth batting point at 160.