Four Wins in a Row for Brilliant Cs

GREAT MELTON C (26 points) beat GARBOLDISHAM C (5 points) by 134 runs at Town Close in the Norfolk League Division 4SW

There were standout performances with bat and ball from Aimee Palmer, Matt Rennie and Dale Weston as Great Melton C continued their impressive winning run beating unbeaten and table-topping Garboldisham C at Town Close. The win narrows the gap between the two sides to 18 points at the top of the Division 4 South & West league. .

Melton were stuck in to bat for the first time this season on a damp looking wicket. Opening batsmen Jamie Dutton and Alex Pattison were both slow out of the blocks and didn’t manage to accumulate, falling for 1 and 3 respectively. With the score 26-2, the situation wasn’t looking great but some assured batting from Chris Wright and some hard hitting from Aimee Palmer steadied the ship with a vital 73 run partnership. A flurry of wickets ensued with C. Wright being castled for 25, Duncan Greenslade caught and bowled for 5 and Palmer caught for a fantastic 48. At 114-5, Melton were wondering whether they could get enough runs on the board on a pitch that was drying in the beautiful summer sun. Enter Dale Weston (41) and Matt Rennie (48 n.o) who dispatched some indifferent bowling, putting on 82 runs between them with some impressive range hitting from both. Weston skied one late on and ‘The Two Rennies' finished off the innings with Melton ending up on 217-6 from their 45 overs (and it’s good night from them).

The run-scorers weren’t satisfied with their contribution to the game, however. Aimee Palmer and Dale Weston opened the bowling and it was the metronomic Weston who did the early damage, bowling Culling and Hart for ducks in his first two overs. Palmer joined in the fun bowling the dangerous-looking Buckmaster for 6 and ‘Garby’ looked rattled at 10-3 in the fifth over of their innings. Matt Rennie bowled the potentially dangerous Kemp for 12 off his second delivery of the day and kept up his good form with the ball, ending up with figures of 2-20 from his six overs. It was only really Baker for Garboldisham who managed to stick around and get some runs but when he was dismissed by Chris Wright for 21, the visiting team were 66-6 off 22 overs, requiring another 152 runs for victory from 23 overs and only the tail remaining. Chris Wright picked up the wicket of Pringle for 11 in his second over and then Josh Wright and Kyle Weston were on to bowl. Josh Wright picked up another senior scalp, bowling Asker for 8 while Kyle Weston saw two drops in the off-side off his bowling in his second over, dollies both for Matt Rennie and Jamie Dutton. He took matter in to his own hands, however, bowling Lee for 3 and finishing off the innings with the help of an extravagant diving catch from Patterson fielding under the batsman’s nose. Garboldisham’s reply was 83 runs, 134 short of the impressive Melton Cs.

‘Top banana’ was a tough choice but Aimee Palmer was voted as winner with some outstanding hitting and some tight bowling first up. Overall, it was a great family affair with three father-son pairs in the Melton line-up. With this win, Melton will really look to continue their charge up the table and make it five in five next week.

Great Melton C
J. Dutton b L. Hart 1; A. Patterson ct. H. Goodman b J. Haliwell 3; C. Wright b H. Goodman 25; A. Palmer ct. J Halliwell b B. Buckmaster 48; D. Greenslade c&b H. Goodman 5; D. Weston ct. H. Goodman b A. Pringle 41; M. Rennie not out 49; C. Rennie not out 2; Extras b (12), lb (8), w (21), nb (2) 43. Total 217 – 6 (L. Hart 7-1-27-1; A. Pringle 7-2-25-1; J. Halliwell 9-2-26-1; L. Raven 5-0-29-0; H. Goodman 10-0-51-2; B. Buckmaster 5-0-29-1; D. Culling 2-0-16-0)

Garboldisham C
N. Kemp b M. Rennie 12; D. Culling b D. Weston 0; L. Hart b D. Weston 0; B. Buckmaster b. A. Palmer 6; P. Baker ct. Pattison b C. Wright 21; H. Goodman b M. Rennie 15; A. Pringle b. C. Wright 11; N. Asker b J. Wright 8; T. Lee b K. Weston 3; J. Halliwell not out 0; L. Raven ct. A. Patterson b K. Weston 0; Extras b (2), lb (1), w (3), nb (1) 7. Total 83 (A. Palmer 6-1-20-1; D. Weston 10-2-24-2; M. Rennie 6-1-20-2; C. Wright 2-1-4-2; J. Wright 3-1-6-1; K. Weston 2.4-0-6-2)

Jamie Dutton