Luke Rackham (pictured above from 2014) took five wickets for Garboldisham 1st XI to help secure a comfortable win over Swardeston

Match results and round-up for Saturday 28 May 2016

GCC Firsts were at home to Swardeston. The visitors won the toss and chose to bat first but a cluster of early wickets from Garboldisham had Swardeston on the back foot from which they never really recovered and they finished all out for 147 after 41 overs. Luke Rackham picked up a ‘five-for’. It took Garby just 24 overs to chase down Swardeston’s total with a final charge from Henry Phoenix (56 not out) and Jonny Wyatt (25 not out). Earlier in the innings it was good to see Aussie overseas player Dan Constable clock up 41 runs, and in a weird coincidence, Dan was very surprised to find the match being adjudicated by Martyn Pointer who had umpired him in a match last year at Manly Oval in Sydney, Australia! It turns out that Martyn, who had emigrated to Australia in 1988, moved back to Norfolk this year. That’s three wins now out of five games and it places the 1st XI comfortably mid-table in the premier league.

The 2nd XI travelled to Stow CC to notch up another winning performance. The hosts won the toss and batted first but struggled to accumulate runs and finished on 151 for 8 after 45 overs. In reply, a half century for Andrew Whistler helped Garboldisham to 152 for 3 after 31 overs and they won by 7 wickets. It has been an excellent start to the season for captain Fevs and the rest of the team and they are sitting top of the 4th division with 118 points.

The Thirds were away to Reepham & Salle who batted first and finished on 179 for 8 with the wickets being shared around between Phil Carr (2), Arthur Johnson (2), Peter Barnes (2) and one each for Eddie Thorne and Angus Pringle. After a batting collapse from Garby it was down to the tail-enders and youngsters to try and push Garboldisham over the line but in the end there was just too much to do and Garby were bowled out and finished 32 runs short. Well done to Phil Carr who was 41 not out and Angus Pringle (17) and Arthur Johnson (15).

Back at The Langley and the 4th XI were facing top-of-the-table rivals Hingham. Garby won the toss and put the visitors in to bat and Hingham accumulated a hefty 272 runs and were naturally confident that they had the game in the bag. However, the home side knew that if they made a steady and solid start and didn’t lose early wickets they could take advantage of the short boundaries on this normally high-scoring pitch. Openers Neville Kemp and Tommy Fidler survived a few early chances and soon had the scoreboard ticking over. Neville with a half century under his belt was out soon after but Tommy (pictured above) went on to reach his ton and finish on 111. It was good to see Harry Youngson back playing cricket for Garboldisham and he kept the runs flowing and together with Benny Goodman, they saw Garby over the line for 274 for 4 after 37 overs to win by 6 wickets. It was also a welcome return for Jack Halliwell who was out of action last season with a damaged shoulder.

Don’t forget that today (Sunday 29 May) is the GCC t20 match fun-day with the first game starting at 11am!