THE top two sides in Division Four both produced poor batting displays, but it was Narborough who just shaded the points as leaders Great Melton ended up seven runs shy of what appeared to be the a modest hosts' batting total.

THE top two sides in Division Four both produced poor batting displays, but it was Narborough who just shaded the points as leaders Great Melton ended up seven runs shy of what appeared to be the a modest hosts' batting total.

Electing to field, Melton made the best possible start when Mark Scott bowled Broad for just three.

Narborough captain Paul Harwood the former Norfolk player and last season's Alliance batsmen of the year was positive from the outset of his innings, although he offered a sharp chance before he was off the mark which unfortunately the Melton fielder couldn't take.

A succession of boundaries caused Melton to change their field to try and restrict Narborough's best player and with some tight bowling from Neil Hubbard and Mark Scott, the runs dried up.

Oliver Harris, in his first season for Melton, has produced some good performances in recent weeks with the ball and again he caused problems for the batsmen.

Seaming it both ways, he picked up the prize wicket of Harwood who was well caught by Mark Scott.

Former Norfolk wicket keeper Luke Newton was also deceived and mis-cued a cut shot into his stumps and when 16-year-old Josh Wilson, who bowled with decent pace on a return from injury, removed Michael Cubitt, Melton were very much in control with Narborough stuttering at 89-4.

Harris bowled an excellent spell and with Wilson proving to be a good foil, Melton made short work of the Narborough middle order and tail and with good ground fielding too, the league leaders looked exactly that and were well on top.

Harris finished with worthy figures of 4-28 and Wilson 3-32, but Neil Hubbard's excellent opening spell shouldn't go unnoticed; bowling mostly at Harwood he gave very little away and undoubtedly his 10 overs for just 28 runs were just as crucial as those who took the wickets.

Narborough's 132 never looked enough but any side with two former Norfolk players should not be underestimated but whilst Melton were not guilty of that, what followed after tea was probably their worst batting display of the season.

In-form opener Richard Wood looked in good touch again but Marcus Godbold fell early to Harwood.

Phil Lachowyz struggled against the accurate Harwood and Steeles in a Meton top order that looked unfamiliar to previous weeks due to general unavailability and injury problems.

Steeles was gaining appreciable movement off the wicket and bowling a tidy spell and when he removed Lachowycz, Kapila and Harris in quick succession Melton were in real trouble at 44-4.

However, the key wicket was always going to be Wood, and when he fell to Hailstone to an excellent catch by former Norfolk wicket keeper Luke Newton, Melton were struggling to chase what suddenly started to look like a decent total.

Josh Wilson played some eye catching stroke play but it was not until Melton captain Mark Scott joined him at the crease that the visitors started to rebuild.

When Wilson though was excellently caught by Harwood low down at short extra cover, the home side looked odds on for victory, particularly as Matt Clarke was batting with an injury that prevented him being able to run properly.

Melton batted time and limped, quite literally, to 119 which was 90 percent of the Narborough total to claim extra points, and with Mark Scott playing a rearguard innings to keep out Paul Harwood the visitors eventually finished on 124-9.

Narborough's quartet of bowlers all produced excellent spells and whilst

Melton failed to win a game they know should have been theirs, credit must go to the home side whose bowling and fielding was on top form.

Narborough: M Broad b Scott 3, C Hill c Gristwood b Wilson 26, P Harwood c Scott b Harris 40, L Newton b Harris 9, M Cubit c Scott b Wilson 6, M Coe b Wilson 7, P Green b Harris 14, M Steeles c Wood b Bunn 6, M Hammond c Wilson b Bunn 0, R Hailstone c Lachowycz b Harris 4, J Crisp not out 2. Total 132. Bowling: N Hubbard 10-2-28-0, M Scott 10-2-31-1, J Wilson 7-1-32-3, O Harris 10.5-2-28-4, G Bunn 3-0-10-2.

Great Melton: R Wood c Newton b Hailston 28, M Godbold b Harwood 0, P Lachowycz b Steeles 3, Kapila b Steeles 6, O Harris b Steeles 0, J Wilson c Harwood b Green 21, G Bunn c-b Green 1, M Scott not out 25, M Clarke b Harwood 6, N Gristwood run out 7. Total 124-9. Bowling: M Steeles 13-2-26-3, P Harwood 13-6-17-2, R Hailstone 13-5-24-1, P Green 12-3-26-2.

Great Melton C (4 pts) lost to hosts Hethersett and Tas Valley B (26 pts) by 149 runs in Norfolk League Division Seven.

An opening partnership of 214 by skipper R Jones (6) and M Worley (145 in 38 overs) decided this contest.

A tight opening spell by Kyle Mason and an accurate spell from pick of the bowlers Craig Woolrich kept things under control early on with only 42 scored from the first 11 overs.

However, other bowlers struggled for a consistent line and length and the score mounted. This was helped by 33 wides and no balls.

A sharp run-out by Craig Woolrich finally broke the Hethersett B record opening stand. Woolrich then got the wicket his bowling deserved by removing Worley to finish with 1-36 from his nine overs.

Chasing an unlikely 281, Melton lost wickets regularly.

David Bunn, with 24, held things together early on and Steve Phoenix batted with the middle order for a while, top scoring with 26 before becoming one of spinner John Nash's five victims.

Tom Hunter (16 not out) showed application with the tail but the innings subsided to 131 all out, Nash taking 5-27.

It was a disappointing performance from Melton whose young side had bowled and fielded well the previous week.

Against Hethersett the bowling was just too short or too wide on a slow pitch and the fielding lacked intensity.

Hethersett and Tas Valley B: R Jones run out 60, M Worley c D Greenslade b Woolrich145, J Howard not out 26, S Cooper run out 1, J Brandon-Street not out 7; extras 41. Total 280-3. Bowling: K Mason 9-1-42-0, M Farmer 4-0-37-0, C Woolrich 9-1-36-1, S Wilson 3-0-25-0, D Bunn 10-1-48-0, S Phoenix 4-0-29-0, J Mellor 4-0-32-0, T Hunter 2-0-20-0.

Great Melton C: D Bunn b Nash 24, C Woolrich c Cooper b Henderson 4, M Farmer c Adams b Henderson 2, K Frazer b Hutt 12, S Phoenix c Jones b Nash 26, J King b Nash12, T Hunter not out 16, D Greenslade b Adams 4, J Mellor b Bigal1, K Mason c Adams b Nash 3, S Wilson b Nash 0; extras 27. Total 131. Bowling: T Hutt 9-2-18-1, J Howard 2-0-11-0, C Henderson 7-0-38-2, J Nash 8-1-27-5, M Adams 6-0-26-1, A Bigal 1-0-4-1.

Melton Phoenix lost to Horsford Knights by nine runs at Melton Park in the Carter Junior Cup. After being rained off the previous week with Horsford very much in the ascendency, Melton U17's rearranged Carter Junior Cup match was much more closely contested the second time around.

Will Bryan scored a century as the Knights set Melton a target of 196 to win in 36 overs.

And after suffering three early setbacks when Ed Allen (5), George Bunn (1) and George King were all run out with few runs on the board, Melton recovered well to get within nine runs of the Horsford total.

With George Ducker's half-century and an unbeaten 45 from Simon Brett the Phoenix threatened for a time and the visitors were relieved to scrape home.

Earlier Bryan's 102 had been the highlight of the Knights' innings with Minns the next highest scorer with 23.

Nick Gristwood (6-2-23-2), Josh Wilson (6-0-23-1) and Chris Greenslade (6-1-27-2) were the pick of the Melton bowlers.

The match was played in an excellent spirit with the umpires awarding both teams maximum marks.

Horsford Knights: T Webber c Ducker b Gristwood 4, W Bryan c Gristwood b Brooker 102, H Barratt b Gristwood 0, T Mee c Gristwood b Wilson 14, D Webber b Greenslade 4, S Lincoln c Ducker b Spalding 11, A Harvey b Greenslade 0, P Minns b Brooker 23, J Snelling b Wyatt 1, J Buxton not out 2, M Hilton not out 1, extras 33. Total 195-9. Bowling: N Gristwood 6-2-23-2, J Wilson 6-0-23-1, O Spalding 6-0-50-0, R Brooker 3-0-23-2, S Brett 6-0-26-0, C Greenslade 6-1-27-2, T Wyatt 3-0-20-1.

Melton Phoenix: G Bunn run out 1, E Allen run out 5, J Wilson c Buxton b Webber 22, G King run out 13, N Gristwood b Bryan 0, S Brett not out 45, C Greenslade b Bryan 0, G Ducker c Mee b Lincoln 50, T Wyatt not out 7; extras 43. Total 186-7. Bowling: P Minns 6-0-18-0, D Webber 6-0-28-1, J Buxton 3-0-19-0, S Lincoln 4-0-34-1, M Hilton 6-0-31-0, W Bryan 6-1-29-2, J Snelling 5-0-27-0.

Great Melton U13 beat Cringleford U13 by 15 runs in the South Norfolk Community League despite the best efforts of Johnny Malcolm, playing South Norfolk Community League cricket for his village side against his Melton team-mates.

Malcolm scored 22 and took 3-4 but it was not enough as Melton totalled 86-7 and bowled out the visitors for 71.

Connor Stearman was the mainstay of the Melton innings scoring 25 but Michael Farmer (10), Olly Hazell (10) and Sam Palmer (11) all made double-figure contributions.

Craig Woolrich took 3-15 and there were wickets for Farmer (1-6), Sam Carding (1-8) and Alex Tonnison (1-14).