Aldborough travelled to Brooke for their latest Norfolk Alliance encounter looking to build on the promising start this season and came away with a hard-earned draw.

Asked to bowl first, Aldborough restricted Brooke well as the home side reached 59-1 at drinks. Ray Smith picked up the opening wicket with a very tight spell of 1-21 from his 12 overs. After the break, the Brooke batsman beagn to open their shoulders and upped the run rate to five per over. Wickets began to fall with Mike Cramp (2-45) and Mark Holroyd (2-37) picking up scalps along the way.

But the pick of the bowlers was Nick Dingle, who bagged 4-27 to help restrict Brooke to 180-9 from their 46 overs. Committed fielding from Joe Phillips, Joe Buxton and Gavin Swinbourne greatly assisted the Aldborough cause.

Aldborough knew they would need to bat well after tea to overhaul Brooke's score. An early run-out of Andy Siddall (2) led to the innings platform being built by Mike Cramp (32) and Anthony Butterworth (28) who guided Aldborough through to 42-1 at drinks. Like Brooke, Aldborough sought to increase the run rate after the interval and for a time it looked like they may be in with a chance of victory. However wickets fell at the expense of seeking a high run rate and from a position of 74-3, the loss of five wickets for a further 25 runs meant Aldborough ended up batting out the last few overs of the game to secure a draw.

Black Boys Man of the Match: Nick Dingle. Aldborough entertain Rocklands on The Green on Saturday.

n Aldborough travelled to Topcroft in their latest Mid-Norfolk Sunday League clash and suffered a six-wicket defeat.

Electing to bat first, Aldborough lost Richard Fisher (5) early on. A 62 run partnership between Will Wright (88) and Mike Cramp (33) then took Aldborough to 94-2 before Cramp was out caught behind. Debutant George Buchan (13) then came in and batted well with Wright, who went on to pass his maiden half century for Aldborough. As he neared the century mark however, he sadly ended up skying one to be caught and bowled in an innings consisting of seven fours and four sixes. Some quick wickets ensued as Aldborough closed on 159-7 from their 40 overs.

Topcroft made a good start in reply, reaching 36-0 before the introduction of Joe Phillips (3-33) claimed the important wicket of Baldwin (35). Two further wickets were taken by the young off-spinner, including a good caught behind from wicket keeper Buchan, which coupled with a direct run-out from Will Wright, restricted Topcroft to 66-4. Rob Mitchell (0-23) and Nathan Carter-Gray (0-14) both bowled well without reward. The introduction of Alexander for Topcroft soon ended Aldborough's good work however as he blasted 79 not out in 10 overs in an innings comprising nine fours and five sixes to wrap up the victory for Topcroft in the 28th over.

Black Boys Man of the Match: Will Wright.