Felthorpe "A".  Julian Dismore 75, A. Hamilton 58.

North Elmham. Chris Palmer 73 not out, Tony Garrod 54.

Report
North Elmham travelled to play third placed Felthorpe "A" on Saturday knowing they took a 19 point cushion into the fixture. The rains of Friday had not affected the square too much and the pitch looked full of runs. Felthorpe won the toss and decided to bat. Andy Kay and Ant Keeble opened the Elmham bowling and it soon became apparent that it was a good pitch and the bowlers would have their work cut out on the hot afternoon. Kay was unlucky as a couple of chances went begging and the Felthorpe batsmen scored quickly. Mat Elmar replaced Keeble and Iain Sinclair took over from Kay but both were unable to stem the flow of runs and at the halfway point Felthorpe were 116 without loss.
Experienced skipper Chris Palmer put himself on to bowl and broke the partnership in his third over with Kay taking an good catch to dismiss Sutton for 41. Hamilton joined J. Dismore and still the runs flowed before Josh Hall ran out Dismore with an excellent pick up and direct hit to leave the batsmen well short of his ground. Hamilton scored his
58 from 41 balls before falling to Palmer. At this point Felthorpe lost a little momentum and Hall took two catches. Felthorpe declared an over early to deny Elmham the possibility of an extra bowling point. Palmer was incensed when Felthorpe declared and decided to use the points system to Elmham's advantage. If they were unable to win the game outright, Palmer had worked out that Elmham could still be promoted if they got more batting points than Felthorpe got bowling points. Tony Garrod and Sinclair opened the Elmham innings and batted sensibly with Garrod easily outscoring his partner. Sinclair was out to Norwell's first delivery in the 11th over which brought Palmer to the crease. The pair put on 77 in 14 overs before Garrod was bowled for a fine 54 from
91 balls faced. Two further wickets fell and Elmham were 125 for 4 wickets from 30 overs. 15 year old Matthew Gilbert joined his skipper and plan B was implemented. Palmer revised his plans, and 160 which would give Elmham 4 batting points as long as they only lost a maximum of 7 wickets (3 bowling points) was the new realistic target. Palmer and Gilbert edged the score along and Felthorpe occurred what was going on. Palmer was severe on anything short and Gilbert was determined. 160 was scored without loosing another wicket before Gilbert's dogged resistance was ended with 11 balls to go. No further mishaps occurred and although Elmham had lost the game they had gained promotion by 2 points.
Palmer said after the match " When I was invited to take over the side at the start of the season we had about 10 players but we have picked up a few during the season and promotion (subject to my maths) is the icing on the cake for the club."


Felthorpe "A"

J. Dismore run out ( J. Hall) 75,
G. Sutton ct Kay b Palmer 41,
A. Hamilton ct & b Palmer 58,
M. Norwell not out 6,
K. Owen ct Hall b Keeble 9,
J. Spicker ct Hall b Elmar 13,
A. Dismore not out 8,
extras 22,
total 232 for 5 wkts declared ( 44 overs)

A. Kay          12  -  2  -  56  -  0, 
A. Keeble      6  -  1  -  40  -  1, 
M. Elmar       7  -  0  -  37  -  1, 
I. Sinclair      9  -  0  -  48  -  0,
C. Palmer  10  -  2  -  38  -  2.

North Elmham

A. Garrod b Grant 54,
I. Sinclair ct Collard b Norwell 0,
C. Palmer not out 73,
J. Hall ct J. Dismore b Grant 1,
R. Futter b A. Dismore 5,
M. Gilbert b Spicker 1,
A. Keeble not out 0,
extras 36,
total 170 for 5 wkts ( 45 overs).

C. Collard            5  -  2  -  16  -  0, 
M. Sicklemore  10  -  2  -  28  - 0, 
M. Norwell         10  -  1  -  41  -  1,
J. Spicker             7  -  2  -  29  -  1, 
A. Dismore           5  -  0  -  25  -  0,
L. Grant                 8  -  2  -  27  -  2.