Sprowston 'A' v Drayton 30th August 2008

Sprowston 'A' 230-6 Drayton 99Drayton's first teams season ended in a bloody mess at Sprowston last Saturday - quite literally as Nigel Armitage's nose was splattered around the outfield after a stray top edge caught him whilst keeping wicket! As it turned out, "The Arm" was not the last Drayton player to have to visit A&E over the weekend.

Sprowston won the toss and hardly surprisingly elected to bat - opener Tim Hales, a regular first teamer, set about the Drayton attack with gusto hitting Michael Mario-Ghae for two huge leg side sixes. However, before he could cause more havoc he fell to a most unusual dismissal as James Kay held a catch on the boundary - yes James Kay! Later in the same over, Robert Reeve removed the other opener Palmer and at 38-2 the game was nicely set. However, as has been the regular pattern through 2008, Drayton failed to make further quick inroads - a couple of presentable chances weren't taken and Sprowston were able to build a strong base for the rest of their innings.

The final total of 230-6 was largely based around the left handed Robinson's 78, with solid support from Glozier and Graver. For Drayton, Robert Reeve was the pick of the bowlers (9-3-25-2); Gary Foreman bowled tidily in his first bowl for a month (10-0-34-1) and Andy Denny picked up late wickets (6-0-36-3). There was also time for Kay to take another boundary line catch (I'm not making this up) and for Reeve to take another outstanding catch to which everyone has become so accustomed this season.

Drayton's reply was entertaining at times and inept at others, and sometimes both at the same time. After 10 overs, Drayton had scored 58, but three wickets had fallen, and when the innings closed at 99 (with Armitage not yet back from picking up his five stitches), only 24.2 overs had been bowled. Andy Hawes hit an eye catching 26, before playing all round a straight ball, but otherwise the innings was full of big shots but no real substance. Drayton finish the season in 6th - an underachievement after a bright start to the season.