Beccles cricket round-up

After the disappointment of losing the derby tussle with Hales, Beccles Town host fellow strugglers Bradenham, in what will be a must-win game in Alliance Division One this weekend.

Beccles (7 pts) lost to Hales (24 by 48 runs last weekend.

Beccles went into this crunch match in search of another win, which would have propelled them up the table, but they left disappointed after a poor all-round performance led to their defeat.

Town skipper Sydenham once again won the toss, and decided to bowl on an interesting-looking Hales wicket.

Openers Turrell and Fisher began well, restricting the Hales openers but without taking early wickets.

This meant Andersen and Hlengani could adjust to the slow and low wicket and begin to score.

It took the introduction of in-form Dave George to break the partnership, Andersen bowled round his legs and Hales 42-1.

Hlengani then briefly threatened but gave his wicket away, followed by Squire, Dan Andersen and Lindsay to leave Beccles in the driving seat with Hales on 108-5.

However, some cultured batting from Robin Andersen (52), supported by Jones, Vale and Rowe meant that Hales could reach a total of 214,

Beccles' openers knew that a similar performance to that of the previous week's against Swardeston would be needed, but had reached only 13 when Rob Porter was trapped lbw for nine, bringing Ross to the crease.

He and Rich Turrell began to rebuild the innings and looked dangerous until Turrell fell in the same way as Porter, to Lovick.

Richard Porter and Ross again threatened to build a match-winning partnership, but a flurry of wickets left Beccles in deep trouble as they collapsed from 96-2 to 98-6 in the space of three overs.

Some late hitting from George (29) and stubborn resistance from tail enders gave the opportunity of a 90 per cent losing draw, but late wickets for Rowe and Andersen meant Beccles were all out for 142.

Beccles A (25 pts) beat Garboldisham A (4 pts) by 61 runs in Norfolk Alliance Division Six, Jonathan Puxley scoring 123 not out.

Beccles A achieved back-to-back wins against higher opposition with a great win against Garboldisham on Saturday.

Asked to bat first on a green track, the Beccles innings got off to a steady start before Hunter was out in the ninth over with the score on 26.

Clarke joined Puxley in the middle and the pair started to construct their second successive century partnership to give Beccles the perfect base from which to build.

Clarke (37) was out in the 33rd over just after Puxley had reached his 50, with the pair adding an excellent 107 runs.

Buck then grabbed his promotion up the order by the horns and played a number of shots not found in any textbook.

A super quick 27 aided by Puxley's relentless run accumulation at the other end saw the score rise to 176 in the 40th over.

Young Alex Wright then showed everybody how to score just as quickly but by playing every shot found in the book.

Puxley reached his century in the 42nd over and the pair added 57 runs in the last six overs to post a total of 233-3 at tea. Puxley carried his bat for an undefeated 121 and Alex Wright was not out on 31.

Beccles then got off to the best possible start when opening bowler Keely took three early wickets aided by a good catch from Wilson and a breathtaking one-handed diving catch from Paul Thorpe behind the stumps.

A Wright joined the party, clean bowling the league's leading run scorer Phoenix for one, to reduce the visitors to 19-4 in the sixth over.

Mann and Freake started to rebuild, adding 50 runs before Buck was rewarded for an excellent opening spell. T Wright then took an early wicket in his spell and with the score on 75-6 in the 22nd over Beccles seemed to have the game in the bag.

With Mann holding up one end the lower-order batsmen chanced their arms at the other and Garboldisham found themselves back in the game.

It was a run-out orchestrated by Buck which eventually turned the game again, and Alex Wright took the final wicket with six overs of the innings remaining and the visitors 60 runs short.

An excellent result which eases some of the pressure on this young side. Bob Knights Family Butcher man-of-the-match: Jonathan Puxley.

Beccles A: J Puxley not out 121, T Hunter c-b R Freake 10, A Clarke B Goodman 37, L Buck st Lee B A Freake, A Wright not out 31; extras 12. Total (3 wkts) 233.

Garboldisham A: R Leech c Wilson B Keely 4, H Phoenix B A Wright 1, T Lee c P Thorpe B Keely 2, B Mann run out 64, R James B Keely 0, A Freake B Buck 19, P Fevearyear c A Wright B T Wright 0, H Goodman lbw T Wright 13, C Jones B Buck 22, R Freake not out 10, J Peart B A Wright 5; extras 32. Total 172.

Bowling: A Wright 10-2-26-2, O Keely 7-1-29-3, M Wilson 4-0-20-0, L Buck 10-0-30-2, T Wright 7-0-33-2, T Hunter 3-0-18-0.