Skipper Fergus Hughes led by example scoring an unbeaten 28 and taking 4-4 including a hat-trick as Great Melton U11s made it four victories out of four with a 66-run win at Diss.  The Diss batsmen had no answer to the accurate bowling of the Melton lads, losing 9 wickets in scoring 247, a net total of 202.  Hughes returned remarkable figures of 3-1-4-4 with his hat-trick coming in his final over.  Connor Jermyn (2-0-5-2), Finlay Hughes (2-0-7-1), Josh Moore (2-1-3-1) and Arvind Shanmugan (3-0-8-1) also picked up wickets.  In reply Logan Stearman (7), Finlay Hughes (2) and Jermyn (1) were all dismissed once but with the required total achieved midway through the innings, Shanmugan (3 not out), Moore (1 not out) and Wilson (2 not out) were happy to defend.  Fergus had other ideas, though, and played a series of delightful shots, hitting 6 fours in an impressive innings that capped, for him, a very good performance that also included 2 catches.

Happisburgh won the toss and invited Melton to bat. After a bright start against accurate seam bowling Melton lost a wicket with the score on 21, thereafter they did not lose the next wicket until the 32nd over with the score on 162. A excellent partnership between Toby Wyatt (109) and Simon Woolridge (45) gave Melton an strong platform upon which to post a significant score with Toby particular severe on any loose deliveries. Wickets fell at regular intervals however late order hitting from George Ducker (16) and Neal Clarke (17) ensured that Melton posted a competitive total of 218-9.

After tea Melton set about the task of defending their runs total and had instant success as Jake (4-45) took wickets in his first and second overs both caught at extra cover by Eusha Fawad. Fellow opening bowler Tom Smith (3-27) bowled with great control and caused the batsman problems with his swing bowling. Happisburgh came back into the game with a strong innings from Wayne Catchpole (49) and looked in a good position to secure victory, however steady bowling from G Ducker (0-30) and Neal Clarke (1-47) and two quick wickets from David Bunn (2-24) turned the game back in Melton’s favour and despite some late order hitting from the Happisburgh tailenders ran out winners by 41 runs.  A fine team effort from the B team and congratulations to Toby on reaching a personal landmark score.

Great Melton

D Loines b Howe 10, T Wyatt ct Breeze b Wilson 109, S Woolridge b Howe 45, T Hales lbw b Wilson 0, F Kaiser run out 1, E Fawad b Peck 4, N Clarke ct Huckle b Peck 17, G Ducker lbw b Howe 16, D Bunn ct Huckle b Howe 8, J Mardell not out 3 T Smith dnb total 218-9

 Happisburgh

J Carter ct Fawad b Mardell 1, R Raven ct Fawad b Mardell 0, R Breeze b Mardell 6, W Catchpole ct Fawad b Smith 49, R Huckle bowled Smith 6, J Woolston ct Wyatt b Clarke 29, J Langford ct Hales b Bunn, M Woolston ct Wyatt b Bunn 9, C Wilson ct & b Smith 1, C Peck not out 10, S Howe b Mardell 20 total 177 all out (J Mardell 10.2-2-45-4, T Smith 12-3-27-3, 8-0-47-1, G Ducker 7-0-30-0, D Bunn 6-0-24-2)

D.Bunn

GREAT MELTON (20 points) beat HILLINGTON (8 points) by 29 Runs at Melton Park in the Mid Norfolk League Boyle Division One

Great Melton’s skipper George Bunn had the perfect start to the day in winning the toss and electing to bat, with Chris Greenslade opening up with his captain.

With both batsmen taking their time to get in, as the early season conditions were making it harder to time their shots early in their innings, the run rate was steady for the first few over’s of the match. Once the pair found their feet the run rate started to creep up and in the 12^th over the pair brought up their 50 partnership, with both batsmen finding the boundary with regularity.The visitors needed to make a change, and in doing so brought on their slow bowler S. Thaxton (3-37). The Hillington skipper started to reign the pair back and in the 20^th over had Bunn (40) stumped and within 2 over’s had Greenslade (43) well caught by opening bowler M. Taylor on the midwicket boundary.After the opening pair were dismissed the middle order found it harder than they thought to score runs as it seemed easy looking on from the pavilion, with M. Cook (25), M. Clarke (9) and S. Wooldridge (2) all struggling for rhythm. Once Wooldridge was dismissed the score stood at 138-5 with just 7 over’s remaining, enter to the fray Richard Waddell. In partnership with the dogged Lee Whiddett the pair put on an impressive 65 in the last 7 over’s at just over 9 an over, with Waddell reaching his maiden half century for the club on the penultimate ball of the innings hitting 8 fours and a mighty six, bringing the Home side’s  total to 203-5.

After tea the visitors reply got off to the worst start possible as Opener A. Jarvis was bowled third ball of the innings by Paul Stearman. By the 8^th over of the innings the Visitors had made a steady recovery but by the end of the 9^th over Stearman had struck twice more leaving the visitors reeling at 27-3. Hillington steadily rebuilt their innings but Melton’s bowlers continued to tighten the noose with Paul Stearman (3-18) the destroyer in chief supported well by his eldest son Conner Stearman (2-27). After 19 over’s Hillington had got to 82-4 and Melton looking favorites for the win but with opposition struggling and under strength some of the home side lost their focus and standards started to drop with a few catches going down and ground fielding not up to the usual standard. A.M. Jarvis (82) and M. Taylor then put on 79 for the 5^th wicket and a few jitters were beginning to be visible in the Melton camp, N. Clarke and R. Waddell struggling to find a consistent line and length and with the one over experiment from skipper Bunn not working something needed to change.Bunn decided to bring on opening batsmen Chris Greenslade and he gave him exactly what his captain wanted, removing the dangerous looking Jarvis for a well made 82 clean bowled first ball. It got better still for Melton as he removed the incoming H. Blackmuir for a golden duck taking two wickets in two balls. Clarke and C. Stearman then returned for second spells taking a wicket a piece to see the innings out eventually winning, by a closer than originally first thought, margin of 29 runs.

Melton travel to Ashmanhaugh Wanderers next weekend looking to make it 3 out of 3 at the start of the season.

Great Melton Innings

C. Greensalde ct Taylor b. S. Thaxton 43, G.Bunn st C. Thaxton b. S. Thaxton 40, M. Cook ct Blackmuir b. S. Thaxton 25, M. Clarke ct Jarvis b. Blackmuir 9, L. Whiddett 16*, S. Wooldridge ct Taylor b. Blackmuir 2, R. Waddell 50*

Total 203-5 (extras 6w, 1nb, 9b, 2lb)

M. Taylor 9-1-29-0, D. Blackmuir 8-0-51-2, S. Thaxton 10-3-37-3, M. Castellan 7-0-35-0, A M Jarvis 6-0-41-0

Hillington Innings

A.  Jarvis b. P. Stearman 0, M. Castellan b. C. Stearman 30, S. Thaxton lbw P. Stearman 15, C. Thaxton lbw P. Stearman 0, A. M. Jarvis b. Greenslade 82, M. Taylor ct Whiddett b. Farmer 19, H. Blackmuir b. Greenslade 0, D. Blackmuir ct Greenslade b. C. Stearman 1, N. Castellan ct Bunn b. N. Clarke 5, C. Jarvis 0 *, A Taylor 0*

Total 174-9 (extras 10w, 6b, 5lb)

P. Stearman 7-0-18-3, M. Farmer 10-1-43-1, N. Clarke 9-2-42-1, C. Stearman 7-2-27-2, R. Waddell 4-1-21-0, G. Bunn 1-0-10-0, C. Greenslade 2-0-2-2

Great Melton U11s beat Rocklands U11s by 7 wickets at Melton Park in the South Norfolk Community League

Kyle Weston made an impressive debut for Melton U11s bowling 3 overs for 3 runs as well as supporting Fergus Hughes in an unbeaten partnership of 49 as Melton beat Rocklands by 8 wickets in the South Norfolk Community League. Good bowling, particularly by Arvind Shanmugan (3-1-4-2), Craig Wilson (3-1-4-0), Hughes (3-0-11-0), Weston and Connor Jermyn (2-0-4-1), made run-scoring difficult for Rocklands. Thresh batted well for his 8 but the visitors struggled to 45-4 at the end of 16 overs  Finlay Hughes did a good job behind the stumps and brother Fergus captained the team well before showing his skills as a batsman, hitting 5 fours in his unbeaten 27.  Weston gave him good support, scoring 6 as Melton reached their victory target in just 6.3 overs.

Melton elected to field and with the home side stuttering at 29 for 2 having lost Mower and Dyer cheaply, the visitors were on top but Wood (50) and Huckle (54) put together a partnership of 62 that laid the foundations for a decent total, which actually promised to be more imposing were it not for the effort of Daryl Godbold who bowled an excellent spell as the fifth seamer.  He picked up 2 wickets in a 9 over spell that kept the home side below 200.  He and Jonny Howard (2 for 42) were the pick of Melton’s bowlers.

In reply Melton lost Allum early and when Wood sliced a drive to point the visitors were 15 for 2.  A useful partnership of 37 between Matt Clarke (25) and James Shipley (20) promised much but when Shipley was caught at slip that initiated a collapse as Melton lost a further 3 wickets cheaply that swung the momentum firmly in favour of the home side.  Bunn was unfortunate to be adjudged lbw but the stumpings of Clarke and Waddell (16) gifted the opposition wickets at key times in the game.  Batting for the draw was all that Melton could realistically achieve and Scott (19) and Godbold looked comfortable at the crease until Godbold was cruelly adjudged lbw, which effectively handed Saham the game.

The difference between the 2 sides was failure by any of the Melton top to register a meaningful score, although there can be little doubt that decisions did not go the visitors way.

Saham Toney

A Wood ct Shipley b Howard 50, S Mower ct Godbold b Wright 8, W Dyer lbw b Scott 2, X Huckle ct Wood b Waddell 54, L Newton b Howard 14, D Ellis b Godbold 2, D Sims run out 12, J Norman not out 18, P Sims b Godbold 9, P Norman not out 9. Extras 17. Total 193 for 8. (R Waddell 12-1-44-1, C Wright 6-1-25-1, M Scott 7-1-34-1, J Howard 12-2-42-2, D Godbold 9-0-38-2)

Great Melton

R Wood ct Woods b J Norman 11, D Allum b J Norman 0, M Clarke stumped b Newton 25, J Shipley ct Norman b D Ellis 20, M Bunn lbw b D Ellis 11, M Cook run out 4, J Howard ct Dyer b Newton 7, R Waddell stumped b D Sims 16, D Godbold lbw b D Sims 5, M Scott not out 19, C Wright b D Sims 4. Extras 11. Total 134 for 10. (J Norman 8-2-16-2, P Norman 6-3-15-0, D Sims 8-0-25-3, W Dyer 6-0-18-0, D Ellis 7-2-13-2, L Newton 5-0-27-2, D Burridge 3-0-17-0)

Unbeaten Division 5 leaders Colney proved too strong for Melton C on Saturday and duly inflicted a first defeat at Town Close.  Opener Dainty, dropped by Melton skipper, Mally Howard, early on, went on the anchor the Colney innings with an excellent 82 as the visitors saw off the early threat of Leo DeSalis and Stuart Wilson to provide a solid platform from which to accelerate.  At drinks Colney were 77-1 but James Rouse with a stylish 68, Butcher (25) and Burrell (24) profited from some more wayward bowling later on as the visitors hit a mammoth 257-5, scoring 180 runs of the last 23 overs.  Melton struggled for bowlers with Hayward unavailable and Smith promoted to the Bs but, although DeSalis kept things relatively tight with 2-36 off 11 and Wilson bowled well early on he went for 51 off his last 4 overs.  Freddie Burgess (1-39) and Alex Holden (1-42) took their first wickets for Melton but at some cost as, DeSalis apart, all the bowlers went for around 6-an-over and there were 28 wides and no balls!

257 was a big total to chase and Melton got off to the worst possible start when Howard was dismissed in the first over for 4.  Burgess (11) and Steve Clark (13) soon followed and, although Tony Alborough and John Moxon took the score to 106 with a partnership of 62, by the time Moxon was out for 29, Melton were well behind the run rate.  Alborough ensured a 4th batting point with a stubborn unbeaten 64 as Melton’s innings finished on 162-6.  Colney were a solid outfit and good value for their victory but, as always with the C team, fortunes will undoubdtedly improve as the season progresses and availability is better.

Colney

Dainty c.Alborough b.Frazer 82, Whitworth st.Clarke b.Burgess 4, Butcher c.Clarke b.Holden 25, Rouse Not Out 68, Burrell lbw DeSalis 24, Stock lbw DeSalis 5, Pask Not Out 12, Extras 37. TOTAL (5 wickets) 257 (S.Wilson 11-0-76-0, L.DeSalis 11-2-36-2, F.Burgess 7-0-39-1, A.Holden 6-0-42-0, J.Bickel 5-0-28-0, K.Frazer 5-0-27-0)

Great Melton C

S.Clarke c.Smith b.Peck 13, M.Howard c.Butcher b.Peck 4, F.Burgess c.Stock b.Peck 11, A.Alborough Not Out 64, J.Moxon Not Out 29, S.Phoenix b.Rouse 6, J.Bickel Run Out 0, K.Frazer c.Butcher b.Stock 9, L.DeSalis Not Out 4, Extras 22. TOTAL (6 wickets) 162 (Peck 12-3-29-3, Rouse 10-0-28-1, Wintle 12-1-30-1, Smith 4-0-31-0, Whitworth 4-0-11-0, Stock 3-0-21-0)

With most of last year’s successful U11s still eligible to play this season, the extra skill and experience of the Melton lads proved too much for Mundford who suffered a heavy defeat.  The visitors lost 8 wickets in scoring 240 making their net score 200 and leaving Melton to score just one run for victory.  In actual fact they scored 237 for the loss of just 2 wickets to win by 127 runs.  Fergus Hughes led the way with an unbeaten 32 with Patrick Walton contributing 17, Logan Stearman 8 not out and Tom Moye 7 not out.  Melton were helped by 63 extras!

Earlier there had been two wickets piece for Hughes (2-7), Arvind Shanmugan (2-1) and Josh Moore (2-11) with one for Walton (1-17).  Craig Wilson conceded just one run in his 2 overs.  Luke Riches top-scored for the visitors with 7.  Melton, aiming for a second successive appearance in the Terry Moore final, were pleased to have got their campaign off to a convincing start but there will be far stiffer tests to come.

Halvergate are the second club to withdraw from the Alliance this summer; Hillington CC pulled out of Division 2 just before the commencement of the 2012 season.  A link to the news item on the Alliance web site is below.

Halvergate CC withdraw.

Great Melton U15s beat Garboldisham U15s by 8 wickets at Garboldisham in the Andy Seeley Cup

Sixty from skipper Chris Greenslade and useful contributions from Michael Farmer (19 not out) and Joe Greenslade (17 not out) enabled Great Melton U15s to get their season up and running with an 8-wicket win at Garboldisham.  It was a close match with the Foxes, batting first, scoring a challenging 110-2 off their 20 overs.  With 3 postponed games, the U15s were short of match practice and it showed in that the Garboldisham total included 23 extras, 19 of them wides or no-balls.  Farmer (4-0-8-0) and Sam Carding (3-1-14-1) were the pick of the 7 bowlers used with Craig Woolrich (2-0-13-1) picking up the other wicket to fall.  S.Baker was the mainstay of the Foxes innings with 32 but Danny Taylor (24), Luke Holland (13 not out) and C.Smith (18 not out) all made useful contributions.  Melton’s fielding generally was very good.

In reply Woolrich and Chris Greenslade batted sensibly adding 34 before Woolrich went for 9.  Greenslade hit some excellent shots, including 6 fours and a six, in his classy 60 before being bowled by Taylor with the score on 86 but Farmer (19 not out) looked assured and Joey Greenslade came in to play a superb little knock of 17 not out, to take Melton to victory with an over to spare.