A well-crafted chase from the Diss batting line up saw them bag an important four-wicket win over fellow promotion chasers Sprowston on Saturday. Diss now sit in third place, just nine points off the top spot following Bradenham's defeat last weekend.

A well-crafted chase from the Diss batting line up saw them bag an important four-wicket win over fellow promotion chasers Sprowston on Saturday.

Diss now sit in third place, just nine points off the top spot following Bradenham's defeat last weekend.

This Saturday sees another crunch match when the Rectory Meadow boys travel to second place Brooke who have only lost once all season, which was to Diss in week two.

On a beautiful batting track with a quick outfield, Sprowston batted first. Openers Palmer and Leverett both rode their luck early on, notably when Chris Cooper dropped a simple catch off Palmer.

Any short or wide bowling was sent crashing to the boundary and Rush, Germon and skipper Dave Tooke toiled away to no avail. Dave Tooke then tried bringing the pace off the ball with the introduction of the spinners, Chris Cooper and Robert Tooke. The first wicket fell after 84 minutes into the innings, when the showman Rob Tooke claimed his first league wicket of the season.

Chris Cooper this time held the catch, dismissing Palmer for 62, with the score on 131. S Hales barely troubled the scorers after Chris Germon scooped down low to hold a catch off Simon Cooper's bowling.

Diss then sensed they could salvage something from a lacklustre start to the innings. Leverett was next to go on 69, when Rob Tooke clean bowled him. Tim Hales followed in the same fashion for a duck, with the scoreboard showing 148-4.

Some fine fielding by young James Wilby enabled him to link up with keeper Ben Green to run out Murrell. Simon Cooper's array of bowling styles earned him Diss' sixth wicket when a slower ball found Hanby's leading edge to pop back up to Cooper to claim a simple caught-and-bowled. P Biswas was Chris Cooper's first wicket of the day when he pulled a ball straight up and keeper Green scampered down the pitch to take a simple catch.

G Roff and V Hossain showed some class at the end of the innings to ensure Sprowston passed the 200 run mark. Chris Cooper picked up his second wicket, bowling the veteran Roff for 24. Eves and Hossain hit out in the final two overs to end the innings on 231-8. Diss knew they had got away lightly, considering they were looking at chasing well over 250, with Sprowston flying at 130-0 after just 26 overs.

Liam Brown and James Wilby were reunited at the top of the order, knowing a steady and calculated innings was required to give Diss any chance of chasing down the big total. Both the openers punished any loose bowling, with strong drives and classic back foot shots earning multiple boundaries.

Just as Wilby looked to have his eye in, he inside edged Biswas on to his own stumps for 20. Liam Brown then settled into a more patient role, whilst Robert Tooke blazed five fours and a huge six on his way to a quickfire 38.

Will Dawson then joined Brown out in the middle, full of confidence from last week's performance and he carried on from where he left off, putting on an impressive 40-run partnership with Brown before he was bowled by S Hales.

Diss knew they were up with the required run rate but needed to stop losing quick wickets. Needing 100 off the last 20 overs, captain Dave Tooke paired up with Liam to steady the ship, but a well crafted skipper's innings from Tooke was brought to an abrupt end when he was harshly adjudged lbw off Roff's bowling for 37.

Liam Brown went on to pass his 50, emulating his fine performance in the corresponding fixture from last season.

Brown was left frustrated when he skied a ball to Hossain on 56, with Diss still 60 runs short. Last week's man of the match Chris Cooper knew the balance of the match would probably rest on his shoulders and the powerhouse hitter tilted the game back in Diss' favour when he smashed two huge sixes to get the required run rate down to three an over.

Mike Tooke played a brief supporting role before finding Tim Hales out in the deep. Simon Cooper joined his brother Chris out in the middle with Diss needing 30 to win from eight overs.

The victory was wrapped up with Simon finishing the innings on eight not out, with Chris not out on 47, finishing with another huge six, leaving Diss nine balls spare and earning them 24 points.

Man of the match: Chris Cooper (two wickets and 47 not out to see Diss to victory).