Cromer (227 for 9, 25pts) beat Dereham (190, 7pts) by 37 runs in Division One of the Norfolk Alliance.

Cromer entertained Dereham looking for a third straight victory. The visitors won the toss and put the hosts into bat.

Chris Carey and Pete Gascoyne opened the innings and got their side off to a quick start. The pair put on 81 for the first wicket in just 13.4 overs. The stand came to an end when Anema got Gascoyne for 42. Carey went beyond his half century but in the meantime Anema claimed his second wicket, Charlwood for 10.

Shortly after Carey's innings came to an end. Anema again was the bowler with the Cromer opener going for 61.

After the bright start the home side now had a collapse with the middle order all falling for single figure scores. Anema was the bowler doing the damage and finished with superb figures of 5 for 28 from his 13 overs.

Despite this however there was still some life left in the Cromer side. Anthony Robinson took it upon himself to take his side beyond the 200 mark. In his time at the crease he was part of a 56 run eighth wicket partnership with Kristian Regis. Robinson ended the innings unbeaten on 45 as Cromer posted 227 for 9 from their 50 overs.

Chasing about 80 more runs than they had hoped at the start of the day Dereham lost both openers in the opening 10 overs, with Robinson grabbing the wickets of Lake and Cheetham. There was some resistance from the fourth wicket pairing of Irons and Vargeson. The partnership was worth 52 from 11 overs and took the visitors into a position were victory was possible.

Carey got Irons leg before for 32 to end the stand and Cromer then got a couple more quick wickets to leave Dereham 125 for 6 from 30 overs.

Vargeson was still at the crease and while this was the case Dereham still had a slight hope of reaching their target. However the Dereham batsman's stay in the middle came to an end with him one short of his 50 when he was stumped by Ollie Kimber off the bowling of Sam Baxter.

There were now 14 overs left and it was just a case of whether or not Dereham could deny Cromer victory. The tail end did wag for the away side and they certainly made the hosts work for the victory. Although Anema (25) and Harbour (11) pushed the Dereham score along Cromer were able to get those final three wickets and they wrapped up the innings in the 46th over with Dereham 37 runs short of Cromer's total.

The wickets were spread across the Cromer bowlers with Robinson, Carey, Regis, Baxter and Elliott all getting two.

The maximum 25 points took the North Norfolk side up to second in the table and they travel to Ingham full of confidence on Saturday to face bottom side Norwich A.

The match was sponsored by Frank Smith and Son Builders.

Cromer: C Carey st Vargeson b Anema 61, P Gascoyne c Raper b Anema 42, R Charlwood cb Anema 10, T Davies c Dan Lake b Anema 7, O Kimber Run Out 9, D Elliott c Dave Lake b Cheetham 3, S Baxter c Irons b Anema 9, A Robinson Not Out 45, K Regis b Starling 9, L Barrett cb Harbour 4, J Craske Not Out 1; Extras 27; Total (for 9) 227 from 50 overs. Bowling: G Starling 11-1-65-1, B Raper 7-0-35-0, M Cheetham 13-3-45-1, J Anema 13-2-28-5, J Harbour 6-0-43-1.

Dereham: Dave Lake b Robinson 8, M Cheetham c Carey b Robinson 13, N Irons lbw Carey 32, J Marczewski c Kimber b Regis 2, C Vargeson st Kimber b Baxter 49, Dan Lake lbw Carey 4, D Hewitt b Baxter 15, J Anema c Carey b Elliott 25, G Starling b Elliott 9 J Harbour not out 11, B Raper b Regis 4; Extras 18; Total (all out) 190 from 45.4 overs. Bowling: A Robinson 9-1-42-2, J. Craske 3-0-7-0, K Regis 6.4-2-27-2, C Carey 11-4-30-2, D Elliott 6-1-27-2, S Baxter 10-0-49-2.