Great Yarmouth closed their 2009 campaign with a hard fought defeat at home against Ketteringham Hall. Asked to bat first on a typically dry Beaconsfield wicket the Yarmouth openers found runs elusive at first. The first four overs were maidens and the score was only 2 after the first six. Things were soon worse however when Vincent (1-27) clipped Nicholls (7) leg stump and Yarmouth were 10-1 after nine overs. Kapila (14) provided a quick injection of runs , hitting Bush out of the attack only to be swiftly dismissed by his replacement Perera (1-17). Fitzsimmons joined Sole and the pair gave the innings stability as they added 56 for the third wicket before Fitzsimmons (19) was caught behind. A further quick wicket saw Yarmouth wobble slightly at 93-4 before Hak and Sole steadied things once again. Hak , in another cameo of what Yarmouth has missed this season , made an entertaining 15 including a six which was caught inside the boundary but hit hard enough to knock the fielder over the boundary. Two balls later Sole (67) also departed having top edged an easy catch to the Ketteringham keeper. At 127-6 a reasonable total seemed a distance away however Vickers (27) , given good support by Doggett (5) saw Yarmouth through to the next batting point before both fell in the final over striving for valuable extra runs. Yarmouth closed on a competitive 160-8.
Yarmouth took to the field with James Doggett taking the gloves for the first team for the first time. He was quickly in the game taking two catches as first Thompson and then Vickers found edges to dismiss both openers and reduce the visitors to 18-2. Perera and Howes appeared to have somewhere else to be as they rattled the score on at an impressive rate with Perera launching Oxborough for a huge six over the longest boundary. The Yarmouth bowler had the last laugh the following over as he bowled Perera for 26. Howes and Batch added 24 more before Anguish , with his first ball of the match , removed Howes as the Ketteringham captain picked out Vickers at mid off. Oxborough accounted for Batch without a further run being added and when the Anguish/Vickers combination struck again Ketteringham Hall were in a little trouble at 99-6. Yarmouth’s joy had been tempered by the sight of the visitors two normal opening batsmen sitting on the sidelines waiting there turn and Butler finally made his appearance at number eight. Anguish struck again to remove Vincent and then Bush for a duck bringing in the other ‘opener’ Sprong. The equation was simple , Ketteringham Hall needed 51 to win and Yarmouth felt they needed just one wicket to expose the visitors number 11. Unforunately for the home side they hadn’t found a way past the Ketteringham pair in the first meeting of the season and , despite some half chances , couldn’t find a way through on this occasion. Ketteringham Hall reached their target without further loss in the 40th over.

Burton Arms Man of the Match. Matthew Sole (67)

Great Yarmouth A finished the season with an away trip to local rivals Winterton.
Yarmouth skipper Combstock playing his last game for the club lost the toss and was surprised to be invited to bat first on what looked to be a good wicket.
The Yarmouth innings started slowly and only 7 runs were on the board when Hall was caught behind off the bowling of Hambrook (1-16) for 1. Ruddick playing his first game for weeks due to a knee injury joined Harvey at the crease but runs were difficult to come by. They took the score to 49 in the 23rd over when Harvey was caught behind for 18 off the bowling of Stanhope-Smith (1-26). Once Hambrook had finished his spell the Yarmouth batsmen knew they had to try and up the tempo against the change bowlers, Hodds and Ruddick began to do this and the score moved to 65 when Ruddick was run out for 34 in the 27th over. Hodds and Thompson kept the score ticking over before Hodds was stumped off the bowling of Drake (1-46) for 12 with the score 96 for 4 in the 37th over. Carrier came to the crease and gave the innings the impetus it needed to post a challenging score, Thompson was run out for 13 with the score on 101 for 5. 50 runs came in the next 5 overs as Smith and Carrier went after the bowling, Carrier became the 3rd run out victim for 37 and Evans became number 4 as he was run out for 6 in the final over, Smith was caught off the last ball of the innings for 17 as Yarmouth finished on 168 for 8.

The Winterton innings got off to a poor start as they lost Spelman for 0 with the score on 2, Tooley for 0 with the score on 4 and Playford for 0 with the score on 12 all to the bowling of Harvey (3-27). Southey then trapped Drake LBW for 8 to leave the home side reeling on 18 for 4 in the13th over. Drewitt and Lawes were given the task of rebuilding the innings and the pair looked to be going well when Drewitt was caught by Ruddick off the bowling of Smith for 51 with the score 99 for5, this became 99 for 6 as Lawes somehow managed to play one on to his stumps off the bowling of Hall (1-25) for 27, Powles added 1 before he was caught by Ruddick again off the bowling of Smith with the score 102 for 7.Yarmouth had wrestled back the initiative Hambrook Smashed a rapid 18 before he fell victim to the Ruddick Smith partnership, and Lockhart became Smiths 4th victim when he was caught and bowled for 16 with the score 136 for 9, The returning Noakes claimed the final wicket as Stanhope-Smith was caught by Carrier for 0, leaving Winterton all out for 137, giving Yarmouth victory by 31 runs. Skipper Paul Combstock would like to thank all players who turned out for the A team this season for their efforts, and indeed to all those players who have played throughout his ten years as captain of GYCC second 11, and wishes the club every success in the future.
BURTON ARMS MOM: Simon Ruddick, set the innings up with his 34, and 3 excellent catches.

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