Alan Lithins smashed his second league ton of the year as Cromer A clawed their way back into the Division Five promotion battle with a one-sided winning draw against fellow high-flyers Bradenham at the Norton Warnes.
Bradenham arrived in Cromer still bouyant after the previous week's result, which saw Cromer suffer only their third defeat of the season. The coastal weather did not help the home side - Bradenham won the toss and sent Cromer in to bat on a damp pitch. Skipper Alan Lithins opened with Colin Brown and the pair were determined not to allow the previous weeks' destroyer, Brett Gates, any chance to repeat his feat.
Lessons had clearly been learned, and Gates was hauled out of the attack with the score having moved nicely to 31 without loss after 12 overs. Lithins and Brown had put on 80 when Brown (16) recieved a snorter off a good length to be caught behind. Gav Neale joined the skipper and the pair moved the score to 132 before Neale, too, was caught behind off a sharply rising ball.
Gates was brought back into the attack but was summarily dispatched for a glorious straight six by Lithins that prompted the Bradenham skipper to remove his spearhead once more. Paul Winterbone (17) was moved right up the order to up the run rate and duly obliged, smashing two sixes and a four in a seven-ball blast. Kev Neale kept up the pace as the overs were running out, and Lithins finally lost his wicket after constructing a well balanced innings of 105. Dave Green also got in on the six-hitting act to see Cromer close on a very respectable 218/6.
The batsmen had done their work and now it was the bowlers' turn to stamp their authority on Bradenham. Taylor and Craske were asked to start precedings and both found a good line and length. The third over produced drama as the spot on the pitch that produced three Cromer wickets did the same for the visitors, with Gibb gloving a Craske snorter to Brown at gully.
In came the skipper Moody, and, with the finest Hussey-esque technique, he decided to leave his first ball which came back off the pitch and clipped the bails to give Craske a chance at a hattrick. It was not to be, but Cromer kept the pressure up restricting Bradenham with some fine accurate bowling and fielding. Winterbone stepped in to keep wicket and produced two one handed catches off Brown and Kev Neale to keep Cromer's hopes of a memorable win alive.
Drinks were taken with the score at 63/6 and instructions were handed out to Bradenham that the game was beyond them. They duly followed their skipper's orders and, although Lithins rang the bowling changes to try and make an impact, the defence of Gates and Fox was resolute. As the game ended with Bradenham stuttering to a drab 82/7 it was a sorry finale to a match which promised so much.
All the bowlers played a part, with Craske the main destroyer (8-2-22-3), and Nathan Taylor producing his longest spell of the season, returning admirable figures of 11-2-26-1. The stats will show that K.Neale returned the remarkable figures of 7-7-0-1, and the last 16 overs produced 6 runs of which 4 were wides, in sorry contrast to Cromer's previous weeks' valiant attempt at an unlikely win.
A bore draw, but the 17 points Cromer gained to Bradenham's 4 puts them straight back in the hunt.