Diss lose to leaders

Halvergate beat Diss A by 63 runs

DISS A succumbed to a 63-run defeat at home to the league's table-toppers Halvergate.

On a perfect summer's day, the away side won the toss and elected to bat first. Clarke and Hannant had amassed 39 in no time at all when Archie Moore had the former caught by Mark Williamson.

Halvergate found runs hard to come by against Moore, who showed all the other bowlers the way forward with two for 38 from his allotted overs. Hannant was Moore's other victim, and his exuberant 57 contained no less than 13 boundaries.

At 93 for 2 after 18, Diss could easily have folded. However, under Mike Tooke's guidance they fought back with gusto. First, a superb shy at the stumps from keeper Ben Green ensured London made no capital gain from his innings; then Jack Bell worked tirelessly and was rewarded when Hill was well held by a diving Will Ward at mid-on, a catch that the crowd were running out of superlatives to describe.

Although Brister (46) and Cooke (27 not out) made decent scores, Andy Tebble (three for 39) and Jody Sparrow (two for 18) did an excellent job of rounding off a fine fielding performance.

In reply, Diss slumped to 23 for three, with Booth taking all three wickets. This rocked the boat, and only Ben Green, who made a sometimes patient, yet sometimes typically aggressive 65, showed any resistance to the Halvergate attack, with Robbie West's ebullient 19 late on being the only other score in double figures. Booth (four for 16) and London (four for 40) were the pick of the Halvergate attack.

Diss now look ahead to what should prove to be an interesting encounter with Norwich and Coltishall Wanderers.

MSC Alliance Section D

Stradbroke B beat Rosary Cavaliers by one wicket

THE first victory is always the hardest, and as the winning line approached Stradbroke B had an attack of the wobbles. After a usual steady spell from Billy Freeman, I Beard (48) and P Brown (74) booked in for B&B on a flat pitch. Their 111 run association encompassed 29 overs. L Flory (22) upped the rate, only for the returning Ross Bedwell (3-58) to at last find some good fortune. A score of 182 used to daunt the B team, but once Michael Hugman (42) and Stuart Taylor (37) got into their stride, Rosary found no allies in the pitch or their fielders. Skipper Dan Tompkins (35) joined the party, and at 152-3 all was serene. J Fox grabbed the ball, and his chance, taking 3-49 and amazingly Stradbroke needed 11 off the last two overs with the last pair together. James Grigg hit a huge six to ease the tension and with the fielders circling, last man James Gilbee carved the winning boundary.

Rosary Cavaliers: 182-4 (P Brown 74, I Beard 48), Stradbroke B 186-9 (M Hugman 42, S Taylor 37, D Tompkins 35).

MELLIS CC's Saturday side travelled to old friends and rivals Laxfield last week, on a beautiful afternoon for cricket. The team contained four Mellis players under 14 and a similar aged spectator who agreed to make up numbers. His even younger brother joined the Laxfield team. Mellis were put in to bat and lost Marcus Wyatt early on after a few positive strokes which could not penetrate the field. Henry Beecroft then joined Ben Box and they put on 61 for the second wicket before Beecroft was bowled by Rob Hurren, Laxfield's most successful bowler (5-4). At this stage Mellis suffered a mini-collapse but Darren Stringer and Phil Courridge began to pick up runs while Liam Fairweather, Ben Roberts and Steve Jacobs all made some contribution to the overall total of 94-8 after the full 40 overs.

Laxfield's greater experience was bound to tell in the end but a good opening spell from Stringer (3-20) was backed up by tidy bowling from the youngsters and a tight four overs from Phil Courridge. Wyatt, Fairweather and Roberts all kept to a good line and length but the Laxfield pair of M Oughton and W Hawkins were able to score boundaries off any loose deliveries. Laxfield passed the Mellis total with only three wickets down but at no point did the fielders slacken their efforts to keep the run rate down. Graham Pentelow, keeping wicket for the first time, only let through four byes and Mellis' extras totalled a mere five.

In the scorebook this match may go down as a loss, but for the junior members of the squad it was a very encouraging performance at this level.