Tacolneston v Drayton 'A' 23rd August 2008

Drayton 'A' 142 Tacolneston 58 Lurid rumours about the Tacolneston wicket had been at the back of Drayton players’ minds for the previous few weeks. When Drayton arrived at the moist, green Tacolneston wicket and lush outfield, lost the toss and were predictably asked to bat, it was difficult to know what would be a suitable target.

M Guy and James Crane obviously knew how to bowl on such a wicket - full - and how to set a field - just deep enough to prevent drives from becoming scoring shots. After 19 overs, Mike Sutton and Chris Coupland had played very well but managed only 36 runs, many of them sharply taken singles. Coupland perished, trying to force the pace, a theme which would be repeated often in Drayton’s innings. Richard Taylor found the boundary, if necessary through the aerial route, but was caught off a top edge from a ball which stopped. Mike Bown perished similarly. At 90 for 3 in the 30th over, 160 looked possible, but Crane and M Guy returned to bowl intelligently- yorker length - making it difficult for batsmen to take the aerial route.

Despite Sutton’s determined 44, Drayton batsmen lost wickets regularly, trying to accelerate. Two wickets fell in the 42nd over, leaving Drayton A on 121-9. Last wicket pair, Jamie Scarff and Will Herring, first set themselves to use up the overs, then hit out. Will Herring was particularly effective: a wonderfully timed six, over cover point, from a high full toss, being the high point of his rapid 16 not out. A final score of 142 looked a challenging score, providing Drayton had learned from how Tacolneston had bowled on this wicket.

Drayton’s innings had not been deceptive. The wicket, with its variable bounce and pace, never allowed the Tacolneston batsmen to settle. Jamie Scarff soon bowled opener Dent and, whenever he pitched the ball up, looked a nightmare to batsmen. A. Guy briefly threatened but aggressive field placings did for him: Mike Bown, who recently revealed he had been a specialist short leg fielder, caught Guy off Jason Trett with a tumbling catch. It was all starting to look like proper, grown-up cricket - with slips and short legs.

After that, a brief glimpse of M. Guy’s hitting power - 22 in a few balls - threatened Drayton’s composure, but he took one too many liberties with Jason Trett and skied the ball to Nigel ‘Buckets’ Massingham at long-off. Wickets fell regularly, and it was touch and go whether Tacolneston would be all out before Drayton’s opening bowlers would do their job before they had completed their overs.

As it turned out, it was close. Jamie Scarff ( 11.4/1/24/8, a Drayton best) took the final wicket with two balls to spare. Jason Trett (12/2/29/2) had played his part, too.

For the second week running, no catches were dropped. After Martham’s defeat to Sprowston B, who had lost heavily to Tacolneston in the previous week, Drayton A found themselves top of Division 7, with one match of the season to go. RT.

Congratulations to Jamie on some outstanding bowling figures - at the risk of incurring someone's wrath - these are the best recorded bowling figures for Drayton since Gary Smith recorded an analysis of 14.5-6-25-9 against Saham Toney in August 1991. PJW