Sunday Teams Win
Senior Round-Up: Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th August
Heavy rain ruled out Great Melton A Team’s scheduled match at Old Catton last Saturday but it dried out enough for the club’s two Sunday games, away at Aylsham St Giles and at home to Great Ellingham to go ahead as planed. Both resulted in wins for Melton.
There were two unbeaten fifties, for Matt Rushton and Adan Brand, as the Sunday 1st team made light of the bowler-friendly conditions at Aylsham to score an impressive 254-4 in their 40 overs. Apart from the two half-century makers, who both retired having reached their milestones, Imaad Khalid continued his good form with 36, Jonathan Ellse also weighed in with 36 and Kyle Weston (26 not out) and Fawad Kaiser (14 not out) pushed the score over 250. It was a tall order for Aylsham to chase, especially against an opening attack of Rob Mackintosh and Josh Wright. Mackintosh took 1-7 in 6 overs and Wright 2-12 in 8 to ensure the home side were on the back foot from the start. Despite 32 from Avinash Panday and a stubborn 14 from skipper Brendan Wilson, Melton’s bowlers remained in control with Corey Rushton claiming 2-21, Fawad 2-8 and Chris Wright 1-20 as Aylsham were restricted to 88-8, giving Melton victory by the large margin of a 176 runs.
The Sunday A Team’s match against Ellingham saw both sides fielding a mix of ‘golden oldies’ and youngsters. On a damp wicket, all the batsmen had trouble timing the ball effectively and Melton’s 139 all out looked a challenging score. Steve Phoenix top-scored with 26 and his 47-run partnership with young Joseph Graves (20), in the end proved to be a match-winning one. Sam Davey (16), Kai Wilkinson-Loines (15) and Paul Stevens (14) added a few much-needed runs and young Freddy Cooper (3-30) and Craig Draper (3-6) took 3 wickets apiece for the visitors. 13 year old Daniel Graves, in his first senior match, then struck two early blows, having the dangerous Dave Allum (15) well caught by Stevens at long-on before bowling Sourish Brahma for 10. Aaron Draper grew in confidence and played some good shots before retiring on reaching 30 but Melton’s youngsters bowled well with Joseph Graves (5-0-17-1), Liam Stevens (5-1-12-1), Millie Wimhurst (5-1-17-2) and Davey (3-1-9-1) all picking up wickets as Ellingham finished on 114-7, Melton winning by 25 runs. However the ‘champagne moment’ was provided by one of the visitors’ batsmen who, somehow, lost his trousers whilst running a quick single revealing a bit more than any player or spectator wished to see!
Despite the problems of Covid19 and some inclement weather, the club has managed to play 27 senior matches and 28 junior ones, a great effort from everyone involved from the groundsmen to the captains and team managers. The intention is that the club will continue with a few senior fixtures until mid-September!
