Drayton v Halvergate 14th July 2007

Halvergate 135-9 Drayton 137-4 Drayton's first team secured their third successive home win, with a solid victory over fellow strugglers Halvergate. Drayton opted to bowl first on what appeared to be another low and slow, albeit, true pitch. Lee Cornfield and Michael Mario-Ghae reeled off a string of maidens which meant after 12 overs, there were more overs on the board than runs. Cornfield took two wickets in his opening spell to reduce Halvergate to 15-2, and after a period of solid consolidation Phil Soanes took the third wicket with his first ball when he induced Tipping to drive a full toss straight to mid off. With Halvergate struggling to post a competetive total they were indebted to J. Brister, with some lusty hitting and K. Hodds, with some adept placement to lift the score up to 135. One disappointment for Drayton was their inability to bowl out Halvergate and thereby taking maximum bowling bonus points.

Drayton's reply was not without its scares. Philip Wright edged the first ball of the innings straight to Simon Brister's safe hands at first slip only for wicketkeeper Hodds to intercept and shell the chance. Thereafter, Wright and Andy Denny put on their third consecutive solid opening partnership, before Wright was bowled by T. Booth for 28 with the score at 63. The next scare came when S. Willimott, who had dismantled Drayton's batting in the reverse fixture, removed Paul Eggett and Gary Smith in successive balls to leave Drayton on 93-3. However, Denny looked in increasingly good touch and moved to his first half century for two years and along with Howard Davies moved Drayton to within touching distance of the target. Despite Davies' dismissal just shy of their target, Drayton were not to be denied.