Drayton v Winterton 23rd June 2007

Drayton 186-7 Winterton 159 The omnipresent threat of rain (which meant that all other games in the top four divisions of the Norfolk League were unfinished), failed to stop Drayton recording their long overdue first victory of the season.

Drayton were asked to bat first and soon lost Howard Davies bowled trying to make room for himself, however John Sutton and Lee Cornfield knuckled down in a sensible second wicket partnership. With the pitch playing low and slow both batsman had to be watchful, however they were quick to punish anything loose. Following a partnership of 78, Cornfield departed LBW for 22 to the last ball of Richard Larner's impressive spell (12-4-27-1). Philip Wright and Gary Smith then departed in identical fashion - both caught on the square leg boundary trying to hit full tosses into the bowls green. Paul Eggett, kept the scoreboard ticking before perishing for 10, and all the while Sutton was moving through the gears at the other end. With five overs to go Drayton were on 133-6, with a score of 160 looking likely, however Sutton took this as his cue to play some big shots - in the last five overs he moved from 75 to 119, whilst never playing anything other than a picture perfect shot. The last over of the innings produced 18 runs, with captain Phil Soanes running hard to keep Sutton on strike. Drayton's final total of 185-7, looked at least adequate bearing in mind the lack of pace in the pitch.

When Winterton batted, Drayton got the perfect start with Lee Cornfield taking wickets with his 2nd and 3rd balls. When Michael Mario-Ghae and Cornfield both struck in their 5th over, the visitors were 28-4. However Boylan and Clarke rebuilt the innings with a disciplined partnership of 76 for the 5th wicket. Soanes removed Boylan in the 34th over, with Winterton required a further 82 for victory. Parker played positively as soon as he came in - however when both Parker and Clarke, as well as skipper Hambrook were removed in quick succession it appeared to be game over. However, Drayton had reckoned without Evans hitting a 6 and a 4 from consecutive balls to get his side back into the game. Eventually number 11 Larner tried one shot too many and was well caught by Gary Smith off Gary Foreman with Winterton just short of a 4th batting point on 159. For Drayton, pick of the bowlers were Michael Mario-Ghae (12-1-27-4) and Cornfield (10-5-38-4). Just twenty minutes after the game finished the ground was hit by a torrential thunderstorm, which would have inevitably have meant game over if play was still in progress.