After the setback of the previous week, Bungay A faced a local derby against Topcroft B, another of their promotion rivals.

It turned out to be a tense and exciting affair which swayed towards each team on numerous occasions before Bungay came out on top.

After winning the toss, captain Dickie Davies elected to field first and this decision immediately looked to have paid off as two wickets were taken within the first two overs before a run was on the board. There was a brief recovery as the Topcroft batters looked to consolidate but tight Bungay bowling continued to reap rewards as the visitors were reduced to 59-5 after 20 overs.

Davey and James frustrated the Bungay bowlers and gradually built a stand of 111 before Davey was caught by Alex Codd off the excellent bowling of Reece Ling for a belligerent 65. A quick flurry from James took the total to 186-6 by the end of the 45 overs.

Pick of the Bungay bowlers was Reece Ling who bowled with real maturity and skill on his 15th birthday to finish with figures of 9-0-20-2.

Chasing a sizeable target a good solid start was going to be needed and Carl Cudden and Alex Codd set about this in fine style before Cudden, due to injury, couldn’t quite make his ground on a sharp call for a single and was run out for 22. The opening stand had reached 109 off the first 20 overs.

The game took another turn as Bungay lost George Shipley, Archie Flood and Davies in quick succession before Codd top-edged to end his excellent innings of 75 with the score at 128. The game was now finely poised but Bungay just needed to consolidate and Reece Ling and Ted Bedingfield set about their task well.

Topcroft eventually removed Ling for a well put together 35 with the total at 173 before another flurry of wickets left the game finely balanced with the score at 182-8 and overs running out.

Young James Wightman came out to join Bedingfield and held out in the face of a closely set attacking field. Now, Bedingfield showed the benefit of his experience. He managed to keep the strike and with just eight balls left he pulled the ball to the square leg boundary for the winning runs to finish unbeaten on 23.

Bungay’s day further improved when news of a shock Vauxhall Mallards defeat came through and confirmed that they had returned to the top of the league.