Newly promoted Great Yarmouth travelled to neighbouring Winterton on saturday for their first match in Division 2 but went went down to defeat by 68 runs. Invited to bat first Clarke and Noble-Parker coped well with the vagaries of early season bounce as they saw off the ever dangerous White and looked to score from Sparkes at the other end. Runs came steadily and the innings progressed at a good tempo. Seeking to stem the flow the Yarmouth captain turned to the previous years leading bowler Oxborough but things were not to go to plan as his first over , the innings twelfth , went for 13 and brought the team 50 up. Things looked even bleaker as White finished his spell and Vickers , making his Yarmouth return , also went for 13 in his first over. Winterton were siting pretty at 66 without loss from 15 overs. The two change bowlers fought back however and as the runs began to dry up the chances started to come. It was Oxborough who struck first , bowling Noble-Parker for an excellent 45 and it was Oxborough (2-42) who struck again in his very next over with Clarke (29) departing the same way. With two new men at the crease Yarmouth sensed they were back in it but G Roper and Witheridge kept things moving with a third wicket partnership of 38 before hesitation between the wickets saw Witheridge (16) run out. Vickers (1-38) struck in the next over and Winterton were 117-4 from 31 and the innings was delicately poised. G Roper and Austin pushed the score along well until White retuend to the attack with immediate effect sending back Austin lbw with his first ball .R Ruddick (3-17) then struck twice in an over to send back both G Roper (36) and T Roper. White (3-20) struck twice more as he and Ruddick finished off the tail , Winterton closing on 154 all out with the last 6 wickets falling for just 14 runs. Yarmouth were not to know it but the sudden collapse was unfortunately a sign of things to some.

Yarmouth's reply started brightly enough. Sole and Ruddick looked comfortable against the new ball attack until S Ruddick (8) edged Hambrook (1-34) behind and even with one down Sole and Kapila were looking confident. Yarmouth had reached 29 before Sole (10) saw a single that wasnt there and was rightly sent back by his partner but couldnt make his ground in time and then next ball Kapila was trapped lbw by Utting. Nicholls and Fitzsimmons looked to repair the early damage and , again , were looking comfortable as they took the socre up to 49 before Nicholls (9) was undone by an Utting slower ball. Fitzsimmons (15) fell to Witchlow's first over and when R Ruddick and Vickers both fell to the same bowler in his next over with the same shot Yarmouth's innings was in tatters. In search of extra points Hak was given good support by the dogged White until they had reached touching distance of the next batting point when T Roper struck twice. First Hak was snared by a excellent catch from Boylan at mid wicket and Sparkes was beaten by one that clipped his off stump. White was not going to go down without a fight and a lusty blow saw a six bring up the second point. He smashed another four from Percival before the bowler got his revenge , bowling White (15) to close the innings on 86.

Burton Arms Man of the Match - John White for joint leading wicket taker and joint top scorer.

Yarmouth next host Ketteringham Hall at the Beaconsfield on 10/5/08.

The first week of the 2008 season saw local rivals Great Yarmouth A and Winterton A clash on a surprisingly warm day on the Beaconsfield rec.
On winning the toss the visiting skipper Crawley had no hesitation in asking the visitors to bat first.
With key bowlers missing through injury, it was important that Yarmouth put some runs on the board, and Hodds and Harvey set about their task steadily as the opening pair of S.Drake(3-32) and J.Stanhope-Smith(1-33) shook off the early season cobwebs as they kept it fairly tight, with the score on 41 change bowler Brey(2-34) had Harvey caught behind for 11, a quickfire 31 from Hunter took the score to 76 before he gave a return catch to Brey. Yarmouth kept the scoreboard moving, with a lot of help from the extras column(36), P.Drake(2-29) removed Thompson(9) and Doggett(17) with the score 153 for 4 Hodds innings finally came to an end as he was run out for 61, with five overs to go Yarmouth tried to accelerate the scoring, but they finished on 181 for 9 as wickets fell at regular intervals as the opening bowlers returned and stemmed the flow.
The Winterton innings started well with Lawes and Crawley keeping the board ticking again with the help of the extras column(40), they managed to see off the opening pair of Cockerill(2-21) and Harvey(0-17) as they added 72 before Hunter(5-33) bowled Lawes for 10, Johnston(3-33) then removed Ewing(2)and Jo Stanhope-Smith(1), Hunter then removed Drewitt and S.Drake for 0 and 1 respectively to leave the visitors struggling on 122 for 5, although Crawley was going well at one end he received no help from the other, and the pressure finally told as he became Hunters 5th victim as he was bowled for a well played 76, this spelt the end for Winterton as they were all out for 146, giving Yarmouth victory by 35 runs.
BURTON ARMS MOM: Paul Hunter, excellent all round performance.

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In order to shake the cobwebs off before the season starts, Great Yarmouth had a friendly encounter against Rollesby before the season kicks off.
With Yarmouth winning the toss, all early season signs point to bowling first, this is what Sparkes chose to do, with a lot of bowlers in the side.
With everyone chipping in early doors Yarmouth had the opposition 4 down quite quickly with Cockerill and Oxborough impressing.
A key partnership for Rollesby then followed which helped them get to 140 runs with the last wicket falling in the last over. Cook playing a crazy reverse-sweep to Sparkes and getting caught behind.
Top bowling figures go to Hodds (3-5) who truth be told bowled and absolute pile of rubbish!!!

In chasing down 141 to win, the Yarmouth reply started off slowly with leg byes really keeping the score going. Yarmouth found themselves in a bit of a bog when they were 4 down, but Oxborough gained enough practice in the middle and put a good score together. The target never looked in reach but a last wicket partnership from Cockerill and Johnston gave Rollesby a bit of a scare, enough for the openers to come back on.

In summary Yarmouth lost by 36 runs but it was hoped the game was enough for the guys to be ready for next week.