Mid-Norfolk Sunday Cricket League, Alf Mace Division Four: Redgrave 206-9 Wicklewood 121
Redgrave continued their debut season in Sunday league cricket against Wicklewood, a team one place ahead of them in the table.
Winning the toss, skipper Dave Prince elected to bat first on the hard, flat, yellow wicket in the scorching sun.
Wi
ll Dawson and Mark Williamson started the Redgrave innings with caution, looking to repay their skipper's faith in them by posting a large total.
Wicklewood's opening bowlers of Corey and Anderson-Brown bowled with huge control, but failed to have enough potency to break through as the Redgrave openers picked up the ones and twos and were severe on any bad ball they received.
Dawson and Williamson created a superb platform for a good Redgrave total with a 131-run first wicket stand, Dawson finally succumbing to the loopy spin of Holt for an uncharacteristically patient 47.
Allen and West then came and went for breezy 10s. Shepherd kept the momentum going with a brisk 12, and the returning Corey eventually picked up the big wicket of Williamson for a well-crafted 64.
The Redgrave middle order perished without fuss in search of quick runs, Gissing in particular offered no resistance while picking up a golden duck.
The blazing bat of Trevor Musk (14 not out), along with the youthful Kayley (3 not out), saw Redgrave to a very respectable total of 206-9.
The Redgrave opening bowlers had their tails up from the start, and exploited bounce in the wicket, which the Wicklewood attack had failed to discover.
Mark Williamson, usually so accurate, was more aggressive than usual, and it paid off when he took an easy caught and bowled to dislodge Anderson-Brown in the first over.
From the other end Robbie West bowled with raw pace and hostility, with Nolan his first victim, simply unable to survive the barrage of short bowling.
And he didn't have to wait long for his second, comprehensively cleaning up Holt for nine. Redgrave's charge seemed to be under threat at one point, when Dawson delivered three horribly expensive overs, but then came the match-winning bowling change.
The tiring West was replaced by Musk, who tore the heart out of the Wicklewood middle and lower order. Bowling with skill and control he finished with figures of six for 17 off 6.1 overs and, along with Prince who picked up a wicket of his own, saw Wicklewood fall to 121 all out.
