Hales & Loddon paid the price for dropped catches as they ended their Norfolk Alliance Division Six campaign with a disappointing 49-run home defeat by Dereham A.

Skipper Isaac Rolph bagged his first five-wicket haul for five years but the overriding theme was the sloppy fielding that allowed the visitors to score 255 after being invited to bat.

The score was based around a fourth-wicket partnership that saw 125 runs added by Jack West and skipper Tom Head, who took the score from 87 for three off 20 overs to 212 for four off 36 overs.

H&L’s lacklustre fielders should have stemmed the partnership in its infancy but spurned routine chances to give reprieves to West, eventually bowled by Rolph for 59 and Head, who smashed a cavalier 80 containing 11 fours before Mark Stewart breached his defences.

After the departures the innings folded tamely in the space of six overs as paceman Rolph quickly tore through the tail, picking up four wickets in his second spell for figures of five for 45 from his eight overs. James Rowswell bowled well for two for 36 from nine overs, while Stewart (nine overs, 1 for 40) and Dave Redford (seven overs, 1 for 39) took a wicket apiece.

H&L’s reply suffered from a lack of sizeable partnerships, the best of those a 60-run stand between Rolph and Stewart for the fourth wicket. Opener Milton Lindsay worked hard for 30 before being adjudged lbw to a delivery from Tayler Allan. Isaac Rolph had posted 34 when he was bowled by Jarvis, while the previous week’s centurion Stewart had hit five boundaries in his 30 when a legside tickle was snaffled by wicket-keeper Sam West off the bowling of Head.

The normally reliable Will Yates, who had earlier seen his three overs despatched for 44, completed an off-day with a rare duck, caught off the bowling of Jarvis. Spirited tail end batting by Michael Lopez (16), Redford (22) and Matthew Plummer (21) allowed H&L to pass the 200 mark.

Eight Dereham players were among the wickets as all 11 team members got a chance to turn their arms over

The five batting and five bowling bonus points gave H&L a 10-point haul which enabled them to finish a season of mixed fortunes in sixth place, seven points above Dereham, with Diss A and Ashmanhaugh and Barton Wanderers A below them.

Musker McIntyre Man of the Match: Isaac Rolph.