THE most pleasing feature of the three matches played by Mellis CC was that the club were able to give 28 different players a game, all of them at their new ground at Thornham.

THE most pleasing feature of the three matches played by Mellis CC was that the club were able to give 28 different players a game, all of them at their new ground at Thornham.

In the league match on Sunday, Mellis were up against Haverhill who were in second place.

Mellis, batting first, started well and Chris Farrant and Ben Box managed a rare century opening stand before Box was bowled for a patient 18.

Martin Minta then added an attractive 29 before Farrant was finally out for an excellent 116, his best score of the season so far.

Tim Courridge and Neil Spence both added valuable runs late in the innings to give Mellis a good total of 232-5 off their 40 overs.

Haverhill, in reply, made a confident start but the Mellis openers Keith Greenwood and Barry Austin were soon causing problems.

Greenwood, in particular, continued his recent form with excellent figures again this time 3-28 off 10 overs.

David Williamson also took three wickets, all stumpings by his son Adam, who in addition held onto an acrobatic diving catch off Greenwood.

D Poole was the mainstay of the Haverhill innings with 64 but they were never really in the hunt and were eventually dismissed for 147 giving Mellis victory by a convincing 85 runs.

Tim Courridge with two wickets and Barry Austin and Neil Spence with one each ensured that this was a good team performance from Mellis.

On Thursday evening Mellis were comfortably beaten by a strong Stowupland Teachers side but wickets by Phil Courridge and Zac Seward and a top score of 37 by Graham Pentelow gave Mellis some encouragement.

On Saturday, Mellis played their annual match against CAMRA and the match went down to the last ball when CAMRA scored the run required to give them victory.

Dickee Morgan with 39 and Darren Steel with 32 were the highest scorers as Mellis totalled 178, but despite decent bowling CAMRA timed their run chase perfectly to win an enjoyable game.