For the second week running Cromer were on their travels in Norfolk Alliance Division One, this time to Topcroft.

After last week's result the gap at the top had increased so Cromer were looking to return to winnings ways and hopefully close the gap on leaders Mattishall.

Skipper Tom Davies won the toss and put the home side into bat. Anthony Robinson made an early breakthrough, bringing Baldwin to the middle. He, along with opener Hancock, took it to the Cromer bowlers. The pair batted aggressively and were looking like taking their side towards a very good score.

However Cromer got a little bit of luck to bring the partnership to an end. Hancock hit Elliott's delivery back towards the Cromer bowler and he deflected the ball on to the stumps at the non-striker's end and Baldwin, backing up, was out of his crease and run out. The unfortunate Baldwin's innings came to an end with the Topcroft youngster on 38, after he and Hancock had put on 82 in 18.4 overs.

Cromer took a couple more quick wickets and were then in more control of the game. Double figure contributions from Todd (26), Goodfellow (11) and Davey (10) kept the scoreboard ticking over but wickets were falling at regular intervals and Topcroft had gone from a position of looking highly likely to breeze past 200, to now struggling to get close to that.

James Craske took three of the last four wickets to wrap up the Topcroft tailend and bring their innings to an end in the 46th over. The hosts were all out for 179 and the Cromer bowlers had done a very good job to restrict Topcroft after an ominous looking opening 20 overs.

Craske finished with best figures of 3 for 32 while Robinson and Elliott both got two wickets a piece.

In reply Cromer openers Peter Gascoyne and Billy Payne got their side off to a steady start with an opening stand of 41. Both players were then dismissed with successive deliveries for 12 and 18 respectively, and Charlwood soon followed and Cromer were 51 for 3.

Davies (24), Elliott (18) and Robinson (19) all made starts but were unable to go on to make a big score. However those useful contributions meant that victory was well within reach as long as they didn't lose wickets because the run rate was very gettable.

With a possible 25 overs remaining Cromer required 61 runs with four wickets in hand. Sam Baxter and Kristian Regis took Cromer over the winning line thanks to a superb partnership.

They batted sensibly, keeping the Topcroft attack at bay and punishing any wayward delivery. The winning runs came in the 38th over and Baxter was unbeaten on 39 while Regis was not out 23.

Todd and Goodfellow both finished with two wickets for Topcroft but the strength of the Cromer batting shone through.

This was a superb victory for Cromer who picked up 23 points and with Mattishall losing to Swardeston the North Norfolk side moved to the top of the Division One table.

They will be hoping to cement their place in top spot when Swardeston visit the Norton Warnes ground this Saturday.

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