Garboldisham hope to avoid another washout tomorrow
Garboldisham will be hoping the weather does not play a factor again when they host struggling Dereham at The Langley tomorrow (12pm).
Last Saturday’s scheduled derby, in the Norfolk Cricket Alliance Premier Division, away at rivals Diss was cancelled, without a single ball being played.
It meant that both sides only picked up five points from the fixture and left Garby in sixth place and Diss still in the relegation zone in ninth.
Having missed out on the chance to play the team second-from-bottom, Danny Cash’s men will be desperate to beat the weather this weekend as they host bottom-placed Dereham.
While the Premier Division top three, of North Runcton, Downham Town and Stow, are separated by just one point, the bottom half is also tightly contested.
The gap between Garboldisham, the highest-placed team in the bottom half, and Diss is just seven points, while basement dwellers Dereham are a further seven points adrift.
l Stradbroke Vikings (97-2) recorded their second win of the season in Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Division Nine West at the weekend, beating Elveden by eight wickets at Wilby Road.
Stradbroke’s victory owed as much to patience as anything else. With rain still falling as the scheduled start time came and went, the visitors Elveden were clearly wanting to go home.
Trusting the weather forecast added an element of jeopardy, but the trust was vindicated, as off came the covers, revealing a bone dry pitch.
Winning the toss was vital, enabling Stradbroke’s captain Matt Wise to insert Elveden into bat first.
What followed in a 30 over contest, was as good a bowling performance as could be imagined.
All five bowlers overcame slippery run ups, each taking wickets, the best being James Gilbee with 3-18.
Seven of the Elveden batsmen were clean bowled, emphasising the good areas they all bowled into.
They could not take the 10th and final scalp, but restricting the visitors to 96-9, Wise felt it was his day, calmly chasing down the target.
The Stradbroke skipper shared a 58-run stand with Fergus Morgan (19no), hitting the winning boundary to bring up his half-century.
With every other game in the division washed out, a leap of four places in the league table proved that a team that wanted to play will always beat a team that did not.
Next up for Stradbroke (6th) is a visit to the side directly above them in the table, Bury St Edmunds IV (5th), tomorrow (1pm).
Only seven points separate the two teams heading into this clash at the Victory Ground.
