On a windy, sunny Saturday afternoon, North Elmham travelled to Colney Lane to play Gt Melton "C" .  Winning the toss, Chris Palmer elected to bat on a pitch that looked full of runs. This decision  seemed to have backfired when poor shot selection and indifferent bounce saw Elmham 50 for 5 wickets from 17 overs with only Stephan Malherbe managing double figures before dragging a ball onto his stumps. Vice captain Ant Keeble then joined the skipper and decided attack was the best option. Keeble set about the bowling scoring 32 from 35 balls as the pair added 64 in 10 overs. When Keeble was out the lower order assisted Palmer in progressing the score upwards. Palmer was out for a watchful 35 bowled by a shooter. Rob Joplin scored 14 and Andy Kay 12 and when Kay was last man out, Elmham had scored 158 helped by 33 extras which included
25 wides. Chris Palmer was happy with the total Elmham had accumulated but was a little worried about the bowlers who had to bowl up a hill into the strong wind. Iain Sinclair struck in the first over and Grant King bowled well up the hill and a fine slip catch by Keeble had Melton
12 for 2. Sinclair continued to make inroads into the Melton batting and Melton were 43 for 4. Gt Melton skipper Mally Howard was proving a tough batsmen to dislodge but Elmham stuck to there task. Andy Kay replaced Sinclair and bowled Hayward. Experienced campaigner Leo De Sallis joined Howard and the score crept over the century mark as Palmer and Bamforth struggled to bowl up the hill. Rob Joplin was introduced and in his third over made the important breakthrough inducing a false stroke from De Sallis and Grant King took the catch.
This gave Elmham a lift as it opened one end up. King bowled a spell down the hill and Howard finally fell to a good running catch by Keeble for a fine 77. Only four more runs were scored after Howard was dismissed as Joplin and Sinclair finished off the hosts. Sinclair finished with 4 wickets and Joplin 3. Chris Palmer was pleased with the way the Elmham team never gave up, his bowlers were slightly quicker than those of Gt Melton and weren't able to get the very indifferent bounce which the Melton bowlers achieved. Next week at home to Garboldisham, supporters welcome.

North Elmham (24 pts) beat Great Melton "C" (8 pts) by 30 runs in Norfolk League Division 7 at Colney Lane.

North Elmham

Gt Melton C