Topcroft put on an improved performance against Acle but will have to play even better this week as they visit leaders Downham.In the Alliance Premier game against Acle, skipper Shipley won the toss and elected to field.

Topcroft put on an improved performance against Acle but will have to play even better this week as they visit leaders Downham.

In the Alliance Premier game against Acle, skipper Shipley won the toss and elected to field.

Porter and Mundford opened for Acle and set off looking to dominate the bowling in windy conditions. Gunawardene bowled only one over before having to come off due to an injury, which brought Baldwin into the attack, who seemingly removed Mundford - but the umpire did not agree as Acle raced to 50 without loss.

Warburton was introduced into the attack and soon removed Porter, caught by Goodfellow.

Mundford soon followed, caught by Baldwin off Warburton, Acle 94-2. Warburton claimed the next two wickets to fall to leave Acle 105-4.

D Todd was introduced and in tandem with Warburton made runs hard to come by for the Acle batsmen.

After 36 overs the forecasted rain came and an early tea was taken. The players returned after a 90-minute delay and Warburton soon claimed his fifth wicket thanks to a fine stumping by Hancock. Warburton ended with excellent figures of 13-4-36-5.

The Acle side then looked to up the run rate, but good bowling from D Todd and I Todd kept the score down with Todd snr claiming two wickets and Todd jnr one as Acle totalled 203-8.

Topcroft's reply began well with openers Hancock and Warburton taking the score to 42 before Hancock was caught for 17.

Gunawardene came to the crease but was the next wicket to fall thanks to a great diving catch from Newman off the bowling of Grady.

Baldwin joined Warburton and the pair began to build some momentum taking the score to 100 before Warburton brought up his 50. But he was the next wicket to fall for a well-made 57.

Shipley joined Baldwin (27) in an attempt to up the run rate, but both batsmen were removed in quick succession by Newman.

This left Topcroft 128-5 still requiring 76 runs off 10 overs for victory. Rostron and Goodfellow took on the bowling attack to keep up with the run rate and added 36 runs to the score before Rostron was bowled for 20.

Goodfellow was bowled soon after for 23, leaving Topcroft 38 runs short of the victory target. Todd and Batty continued the run chase but Todd was caught in the last over trying to reach the 90 per cent score to increase the amount of draw points won, and Marshall was run out due to a direct hit from Short.

The Topcroft innings ended on 179-9, just 25 runs short of victory and four runs short of the 90 per cent draw target, meaning that the team gained eight points from the game.

Cunningham Autos MoM: Rob Warburton.