Drayton 'A' v Gt Yarmouth 'A' 13th May 2006

Drayton 'A' 248-7 (C. Knowles 109) Great Yarmouth 'A' 212 Saturday saw newly promoted Gt Yarmouth 'A' visit the paradise the groundsman calls home (NB: The groundsman James Kay wrote this report - ed), and it was a weekend of firsts all round.

A first century for Drayton from new boy Craig Knowles supported throughout by all the batsmen in the top order, in particular a very brisk 33* from Phil Soanes, enabled Drayton to post a promising 248-7. Another first in securing all 5 batting points which is a must for all home games.

After his fine bowling performance last week the ball was thrown to Will Herring to open the bowling but the tight line and length that was so evident last week eluded the fine leg spinner this week and he was replaced after just 4 overs by Captain Kay, whose first 10 overs saw a tight spell of 10-2-28-2. However the 11th over saw 20 runs and a spectacular first catch for Graham Crowe who covered good ground to make a spectacular catch deep on the square leg boundary. Jamie Scarff's first home appearance of the season saw him bowl with great pace and increasing control to finish with a 12 over spell wicket less but only conceding 39 runs.

A first appearance of the season from club icon Mike Dennison was a welcome sight, given the last 18 months he has faced. The opening over showed just how long it had been since he bowled but come the end of his 3rd over a better line had been established and traces of the old Mike Dennison were there to see. Then skipper Kay passed the ball to another new boy 13 year old Ryan Pointer to bowl his first ever competitive over ever let alone for Drayton. After 43 overs in the field his smile was as big as it was on the first over and he relaxed well into the over finishing it with only one scoring shot for 2 conceded from the 9 balls bowled. Well done Ryan, may there be many more overs over the next few years.

Gt Yarmouth opener M Truman finally fell in the 40th over with a score of 66 but by then the victory was out of the reach of Gt Yarmouth who's next target was 200, this was reached in the 43 over, but some very tight bowling from Phil Soanes saw Drayton pick up the maximum 26 points when he took the last two wickets in the final over despite the call to shut up shop from the Yarmouth captain to deny Drayton the full bonus points.