Twists and turns in tied game

Great Melton (17pts) tied with Garboldisham (18pts) at UEA in the Lucas & Fettes Norfolk League Division Seven.

Garboldisham batted first and the opening pair of R Jaynes and M Swords made good progress against the young Melton bowling attack before Jaynes (16) was bowled through the gate by Ryan Hemmings.

The run rate steadied as Leo DeSalis and Darshan Rai came on to bowl and both took a wicket (U13 Rai's first in senior cricket).

A Shepherd (44) added impetus to the batting with some aggressive stroke play before both he and D Fiddler (7) fell to the short of a length bowling of Navin Sharma.

Just when it looked possible that Melton may dismiss Garboldisham for a modest total the young tail end batsmen H Phoenix (24), A Rumbles (18) and B Tippett (28no) all weighed in with useful runs.

Srinivasan Krishnamurthy took two late wickets to leave Garboldisham with a challenging total of 238-9.

The Great Melton innings got off to a good start with Navin Sharma (35) and George Ducker (18) sharing a partnership of 50, both being severe on any bowling short or off line.

Three quick wickets then slowed momentum briefly until David Bunn (63) and Leo DeSalis (17) injected more urgency during a 67 stand.

When these experienced players fell to the nagging spin bowling of B Tippett it brought together Ben Fryer (31no) and Srinivasan Krishnamurthy (33), whose stand of 54 seemed to be swinging the match decisively Melton's way.

However, Srinivasan Krishnamurthy ran himself out backing up too far at the non-strikers end leaving Fryer to try to nurse home the tail. Ryan Hemmings (18) pulled anything short before falling to E Thorne's slow bowling when victory was only nine runs away.

Garboldisham were keeping the dangerous Fryer away from the strike and this tactic worked when Thorne managed to first induce a tentative pull from Kyle Mason (6) and then bowled Darshan Rai (0) with the score on 238.

A match with many twist and turns ended with the scores tied.