North Elmham(25pts) beat Horsford 'C' (7pts) by 52 runs  in Norfolk League Division 6.

Highlights:

North Elmham - G. King 60, S. Malherbe 34, I. Sinclair 3-40
Horsford 'C' - O. Inwardes 34, E. Lake 25, J. Snelling 5-40


On a blustery day North Elmham entertained a young Horsford 'C' in Division 6 of the Norfolk League. After winning the toss Elmham, on this occasion led by Vice Captain Stephan Malherbe, decided to bat on a good looking dryish wicket, which after the rain during the week would hopefully not prove as unpredictable in bounce as the wickets of the last few weeks. Runs came steadily from openers Malherbe and Keeble, the bounce of the pitch was proving a little low and and it was also a slowish into the bargain so care was needed. Keeble was the first to fall caught off the bowling of Da Silve for 20 with the score on 36. Grant King came in to join Malherbe and some steady batting, just punishing errant deliveries, saw the score advance to 79 before Malherbe was caught behind off an excellent swinging ball that moved even further off the seam from the bowling of Collinson for 34. King carried on scoring well the pattern being singles to keep the score ticking over or bad balls punished to the boundary. It has to be said that Horsford

with their young side were sticking at the job in hand well, but inexperience was showing, a tendancy to try and bowl too quickly, which sacrificed accuracy, was giving a lot of either wides or boundaries although the potential for the future is excellent. At the other end to King was finding partners not sticking round for long, Ian Sinclair having played himself in just slightly mistimed his shot and holed out on the boundary rope to become the first victim to the spin of Snelling for 9 with the score at 112. Richie Futter (15), Rob Joplin (10) Gideon Rossouw (1) became a small procession who all fell into Snelling's traps - up to this point he had just been bowling very economically and although nothing seemed to change the batsmen were all out bowled playing in most cases inappropriate shots instead of being patient. Unfortunately King also lost his wicket caught behind off the bowling of Collinson for a well crafted 60, all of this took the score to 171-6 when Rosouw was out. Andy Kay (5), Callum Tindall (10) and Matty Gilbert (4) took the final score to 193-9, unfortunately just slightly short of the last bonus batting point.

The Horsford innings did not start too well with their opener T. Selby being bowled by Ian Sinclair for 1 with only 4 runs on the board. Things then steadied down, the young batsmen definitely showing the elder Elmham side the correct way to bat (it is nice seeing the results of good coaching, even if you are on the receiving end). Harvey was the next to fall bowled for 16 by a good delivery from Grant King. Clarke the next batsman in was run out to an excellent throw direct hit throw from Gideon Rossouw for 3 which left Horsford on 31-3, probably not the start they were hoping for (they were without their best run scorer for this match, as were Elmham who were missing skipper Chris Palmer their leading run scorer for the season - so it was basically even on that score). Perkin and Inwardes played sensibly and took the score along to 73 before Perkin was bowled by Sinclair for 11. The first ball of the next over (Joplin's first over) was the demise of Inwardes for a fighting 34 victim of a good catch by Rossouw. Clarke and Lake both showed some fighting spirit and took on the bowling attack in a good sensible, steady manner and advanced the score to 118 before Lake was out to a caught and bowled from Grant King for 25 with the score at 118. Da Silva helped Clarke keep hopes alive for Horsham grafting away until Clarke was out bowled by Ian Sinclair for 16, 133-8. A few more runs by the tail helped Horsham to a final total of 141 all out and a total of 7 bonus points from the game. For a young side they showed a lot of talent and they can be proud of the way they acquitted themselves, even though in this case they did not win, Elmham on the other hand will be quite happy with the 25 points to cement their hold on 3rd place in the division. From the bowling point of view wickets were well shared around with 3 to Sinclair, 2 to King and 2 to Kay although the most impressive bowler was probably Ian Sinclair, only some legside deliveries, which were very quickly dispatched to the boundary, spoiling some very good, economical, figures.
Next week, Ketteringham Hall away, start 2:00pm

North Elmham

S.Malherbe c Keeper b Lake 34
A. Keeble c Lake b Da Silva 20
G. King c Keeper b Colinson 60
I. Sinclair c Perkin b Snelling 9
R. Futter b Snelling 15
R. Joplin b Snelling 15
G. Rossouw b Snelling 1
A. Kay c Lake b Snelling 5
C. Tindall b Da Silva 10
M. Gilbert not out 4
J. Livings not out 0
Extras 25
Total 193-9 (45 overs)

R. Da Silva 6 - 0 - 15 - 2
S. Collinson 8 - 0 - 54 - 1
R. Clarke 5 - 1 - 25 - 0
E. Lake 9 - 1 - 25 - 1
J. Snelling 12 - 2 - 40 - 5
T. Selby 5 - 0 - 31 - 0

Horsford 'c'

T. Selby b Sinclair 1
O. Inwardes c Rossouw b Joplin 34
A. Harvey b King 16
R. Clarke runout 3
W. Perkin b Sinclair 11
E. Benton b Kay 0
N. Clarke b Sinclair 16
E. Lake c&b King 25
R. Da Silva c Malherbe b Kay 14
J. Snelling b Keeble 14
S. Collinson b Keeble 4
Extras 17
Total 141 all out (42.2 overs)

I. Sinclair    12 - 0 - 40 - 3
A. Keeble    7 - 1 - 29 - 1
G. King    8 - 1 - 24 - 2
R. Joplin    6 - 1 - 16 - 1
A. Kay    6.2 - 1 - 13 - 2
G. Rossouw    3 - 0 - 10 - 0