Drayton 'A' v Watton 25th August 2007

Drayton 'A' 192-8 Watton 59 With Drayton 'A' only requiring two points to be assured second spot and a mention in the clubs history for being promoted for the first team since the formation of the 'A' team in 1984 - Drayton had everything to play for.

Skipper Daz Flatt lost the toss, and Watton decided to take the new ball, with the wicket being extremely wet, and it therefore seemed a good toss to win.

Drayton, only requiring 80 runs to achieve the points required, got off to a shaky start. Mike Sutton, back in his formidable no.1 spot as opener, started off the innings with Nigel Massingham. With the score on 4, Massingham was bowled by Paul Norman. Tony Gregory then joined Sutton at the crease - Gregory having twice struck the bowling of Joe Norman to the boundary was forced to retire hurt. James Kay and James Reeve gave little resistance to the bowling on a wicket that provided Watton's bowlers with all the help they needed.Sutton soon joined the other batsman already back in the pavilion - and with the score on a little over 40 and only 1 point in the bag and on an unpredictable wicket, 80 runs seemed a long way away.

Graham Crowe and Neil Chamberlain had different ideas (trophies on their mind?) - Crowe dispatched his first delivery to the boundary. Chamberlain had similar thoughts, hitting four boundaries in his first seven scoring shots - before adding a further two fours and one six on his way to a well deserved first half century for the club. Crowe scoring quite freely, eventually fell to the bowling of Roger Horn for 27.

Daz Flatt played another "big" innings - a hard hitting 32 before being bowled by Paul Seguss. Jamie Scarff in his new role as a batsman(!!!) showed no mercy towards the Watton bowlers hitting 20 not out in next to no time, ending the innings with a big six. For Watton, Paul Norman returning bowling figures of 3 for 10 from 12 overs.

The formidable opening bowling attack of Jamie Scarff and Jason Trett proved to be the formation destined to destroy the batting line up Watton had to offer. Drayton defending a good total of 192 showed little mercy. In the 8th over the destruction began - Paul Norman (11) was the first of nine batsman to be clean bowled, falling to man of the match Scarff.

The loss of Mike Leverton bowled by Jason Trett left the visitors total at 23-2. Watton struggled to show any resistance to the pace and accuracy Drayton had to offer. Scarff returned seasons best bowling figures of 5 for 21 off 7.5 overs. Trett, bowled with his usual venom and pace and returned figures of 2 for 21. Also amongst the wickets were the ever reliable Nigel Massingham, proving as tight as can be with 1 for 1 from 3 overs (NB: The President says thanks to Mrs M for the nice teas! - PJW), James Reeve and Mike Dennison. This was a massive win for Drayton by 133 runs.

Well deserved congratulations go to Daz Flatt. Having taken on the captaincy back in June for the game against Beccles - he inherited a team who had been unable to record back to back wins and were close to the bottom of Division Eight.With a revitalised squad and pre match huddles, the keeness soon reflected in the results which followed. A run was put together of five consecutive wins, eventually losing to the eventual Division Eight champions, Yarmouth 'A'. Flatt's final record as captain for the season was 9 wins from 11 games.

It is well worth mentioning a team performance is only as good as the effort which is put in. Congratulations must also go to all who played for the 'A' team making this a unique season for the club. Well done to everyone.

One further congratulation goes to Warren Kedge, the Sunday captain, on achieving his first 50 runs for the club in the game against Bacton. As he stated at the start of the season this was one landmark he was desparate to achieve. Unfortunately it was not with his bat, but the ball, conceding 50 runs off his bowling spell. It should be added that he dispatched two batsman in his spell - one bowled with the middle stump cartwheeling past the wicketkeeper and the other diving catch off his own bowling.

A mention also goes to all the ladies with a big thank you in their contribution for producing lovely teas throughout the season for all three teams - without them cricket just wouldn't be the same. Tony Gregory