Cromer entertain Diss this weekend in a very crucial game. With six sides in the Alliance Premier Division all very close it what could be an interesting fight for second place.

Cromer entertain Diss this weekend in a very crucial game. With six sides in the Alliance Premier Division all very close it what could be an interesting fight for second place.

Last weekend Cromer 206-9 (7 pts) lost to Downham 208-7 (23 pts) by three wickets.

After narrowly missing out on victory in the reverse fixture earlier in the season, the north Norfolk side was confident of running the reigning champions close yet again.

The hosts won the toss and put Cromer into bat.

Tight bowling early on kept the scoring rate down and Charlwood fell early to Todd. David Turner and Ollie Kimber stayed together for 10 overs before Kimber fell to Cunningham

for 16.

Turner continued his excellent recent form and joined by Liyanage the pair scored more quickly.

Youngster Turner reached his half century but shortly after the stand came to an end when Tulett bowled Liyanage for 34.

Tulett struck again in his next over and dismissed Turner after his patient innings of 62.

With 15 overs remaining Cromer were 135-4 and Tom Davies and

Michael Warnes were the new batsmen at the crease.

The pair put on 32 before Warnes was dismissed by Cunningham for 16.

Skipper Davies was the key figure in the remaining overs ensuring the scoreboard ticked over as wickets fell at the other end.

His innings came to an end in the penultimate over when he was run out for 40 off 40 balls.

Elliott was the ninth man to go but thanks to a priceless 13 not out from six deliveries for Liam Davies Cromer posted a total of 206.

Adam Todd was the pick of the Downham bowlers finishing with 3-44 whilst Tulett and Cunningham both took two wickets each.

Downham in reply made an aggressive start scoring early boundaries.

Despite the attacking start, Cromer also made early breakthroughs. Liyanage got Tulett shortly followed by Stuart falling to Warnes.

Liyanage got his second wicket a few overs later when he got Cunningham leg before for nine.

Downham were 50-3 from eight overs and the game was evenly balanced.

The Cromer attack were bowling well and the runs slowed up but the partnership of Yates and Todd stabilised their sides innings.

Todd then fell to Charlwood for 19 bringing Captain Lanchester to the middle.

He and Yates put on 47 and seemed to turn the game in their teams favour. Yates was then dismissed by Battrick for 43 and Corbett soon followed and the hosts were 156-6.

The game was again evenly poised and when Liyange got Lanchester for 31 Cromer still had a chance of victory.

Stuart and Tansley however had other ideas and after Tansley was dropped early on he and Stuart would see their team to a three-wicket victory with 7.1 overs to spare.

Stuart finished 22 not out and Tansley was unbeaten on 20.

Nish Liyanage finished with figures of 3-61 whilst John Battrick took 2-28.

Cromer: R Charlwood b A Todd 6, D Turner c A Stuart b G Tulett 62, O Kimber c-b J Cunningham 16, N Liyanage b G Tulett 34, T Davies run out A Corbett 40, M Warnes c A Corbett b J Cunningham 14, K Regis c J Cunningham b J Stuart 5, L Barrett lbw A Todd 0, D Elliott c A Corbett b A Todd 5, L Davies not out 13, J Battrick not out 0; extras 11. Total (for 9) 206 from 50 overs. Bowling: J Stuart 13-5-52-1, A Todd 11-1-44-3, G Tulett 13-1-48-2, J Cunningham 13-0-59-2.

Downham: D Tulett c-b N Liyanage 10, A Stuart b M Warnes 19, P Yates c L Barrett b J Battrick 43, J Cunningham lbw N Liyanage 9, A Todd c L Barrett b R Charlwood 19, D Lanchester lbw N Liyanage 31, A Corbett lbw J Battrick 10, J Stuart not out 22, T Tansley not out 20; extras 25. Total (for 7) 208 from 42.5 overs. Bowling: M Warnes 11-1-40-1, N Liyanage 10.5-1-61-3, D Elliott 4-0-14-0, R Charlwood 6-0-39-1, K Regis 5-0-16-0, J Battrick 6-0-28-2.