On the road for the second week running, Cromer ‘A’ recorded a hard-fought win at Loddon on Saturday.
Cromer again won the toss and elected to bat on a track that was seeing its first use of the season - and what a game it was to welcome Loddon back to their home ground.
Initially the batsmen struggled to put the ball away and had to settle for picking up ones and twos wherever possible, the experience of Gascoyne proving invaluable in keeping the scoreboard moving.
After losing Gascoyne, Barrett and Regis in fairly quick sucession, David Turner was joined by Graveling and the pair put on a stand of 70 to ease the nerves and took the total past 120 with ten overs still to go.
Turner was then joined by Sam Dickens who hit a quick fire 17 and sacrificed his wicket in going for the runs needed to secure maximum batting points.
Through it all Turner kept his head and posted his first league ton, and his second of the week after he posted his first ever ton during an U15 earlier in the week.
On a track that was doing a bit all day Turner worked hard for his runs and thoroughly deserved the plaudits as he was finally dismissed for 110.
Webster and Van Greuning saw the innings out , narrowly failing to reach 200 and maximum batting points.
After tea it was business as usual for Regis and Battrick, who opened with pace and accuracy and as usual produced miserly combined figures of 2 for 31 from the opening spell.
Dickens and Webster bowled well first change - Dickens with awful luck on a day when Cromer’s catching , with the noted exception of Regis, was simply appalling, with numerous chances going to ground.
Taylor showed a return to true form with a good five over burst yet somehow, almost without the fielding side noticing, the score ticked over, and at 35 overs Loddon must have felt that they had an an outside chance in needing 80 from the last ten.
Enter the second spell of the ever reliable Regis and young Alex Craske. Regis showed real aggression and took a second wicket from his second four over spell, and at this stage having stemmed the flow of runs and letting the run rate get too high Cromer seemed relieved to have secured the expected win and happy to settle for not bowling Loddon out for the maximum bowling points.
Alex Craske had other ideas, and after spending 36 overs in the field without a bowl he simply unleashed himself upon the remaining batsmen and took a superb five wicket haul - four of which were clean bowled -
finishing with figures of 5 for 16 from just 4.4 overs. Bowling at the death is a knack and Alex showed he has it in spades on Saturday.
David Turner must be man of the match for his superb batting but Alex Craske pushed him hard with his bowling at the end.
A hard earned 25 point win for the Cromer, and good lessons learned from having been staring down the barrel of defeat.
Next week sees a welcome return to the Norton warnes ground and a rematch against old catton.
| Cromer P Gascoyne Ct Debenham 13
D Turner Bld Clements 110
L Barrett Run Out 3
K Regis Ct & Bld Clements 8
R Graveling Ct & Bld Nunn 34
S Dickens Bld Nunn 17
C Webster Not Out 7
A Van Greuning Not Out 1
J Battrick DNB
A Craske DNB
N Taylor DNB
Extras 4 Total (for 6) 197
Bowling
R Clements 12 2 45 2 K Jones 2 0 22 0
D Debenham 12 3 25 1
G Clow 5 2 26 0
S Nunn 10 1 49 2
T Rowson 4 0 25 0
Loddon
S Nunn Ct Regis Battrick 2
S Armiger Ct & Bld Regis 18
A Baker Ct & Bld Dickens 33
J Riseborough Bld Webster 11
R Clements Bld Craske 34
D Debenham Ct Regis Craske 29
T Rowson Bld Regis 8
K Jones Bld Craske 8
G Clow Not Out 6
R Gouder Bld Craske 3
L Jones Bld Craske 0
Extras 15 Total (all out) 167
Bowling
K Regis 11 2 44 2 S Dickens 7 1 21 1
J Battrick 6 0 11 1 P Gascoyne 4 0 20 0
C Webster 7 2 25 1
N Taylor 5 1 24 0
A Craske 4.4 0 16 5
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