During the day, a flurry of phone calls between cup organisers and Cromer CC officials ended with the organisers saying that the result could not stand and the match had to be replayed this coming Sunday. The reasoning for this was that the semi final (or final) of the competition should not have been decided on run rate…but the two umpires and both skippers were in complete agreement to resume and conclude the match by this method.
On Sunday night cup organisers said they were happy that common sense had prevailed but Monday morning there had been a change of heart and they insisted that the game be replayed. Cromer feel a complete injustice has been done, and when all involved agree to end the game on the run rate method to acheive a result it is difficult to see the problem.
Cromer won the game in the conditions that had been set out to them and feel very disappointed with the organisers that they the result can not stand. Tom Davies, his players and officials are together in the decision that has been made by the club to withdraw. As a result Cromer will not be replaying the game on Sunday.
Although the scores from the game are irrelevant, it is still necessary to report the fantastic display that the Cromer side put on.
Fakenham won the toss and batted first. Some tight bowling from Arendse and Warnes restricted the home side to mainly quick singles, and after 10 overs Fakenham were 33 for 1. Smith and Dunger stayed together for 18 overs but James Craske and Dean Elliott maintained the standard of bowling and the run rate was less than 4 per over.
Elliott got the wicket of opener Dunger for 30. Smith then with Cooper put on a partnership of 67 in 13 overs, upping the run rate. Smith was still at the crease and had moved and had moved beyond his half century.
Charlie Webster got the vital wicket of Smith for 82, with Fakenham 200 for 4. Some excellent bowling at the death from Webster, John Battrick and Adrian Buck limited the runs scored and Fakenham finished on 227 for 6.
Superb bowling from all seven bowlers used forced the batsmen to score most of their runs in singles.
Captain Tom Davies was confident his side could chase down the target of 228. Professional Rayno Arendse made a rapid start getting to his half century in next to no time, scoring 52 of 34 deliveries, with an excellent display of strokes finding the boundaries all around the ground, and Cromer were 70 for 1 from just 9 overs.
At this rate Cromer would have reached their target with about 20 overs to spare but then the heavens opened and play was suspended. The heavy rain seemed as though it would bring the game to an end, which would have been a great injustice to Cromer. But the rain stopped and play resumed at 7p.m., but with a reduced target.
A minimum of 20 overs had to be bowled to constitute a game and play was going to conclude at 7.45p.m. Cromer now needed to be above the Fakenham run rate, which was just over 4.5 per over. A total of 23 overs were bowled in the Cromer innings which meant they needed to be on at least 105 from these overs.
Cromer comfortably made it beyond 105 and finished 118 for 4. Arendse was dismissed the first ball he faced after the rain break. David Turner and Michael Warnes stared Cromer towards victory with good innings’ of 19 each.
Although sadly the Cromer skipper will not be able to take his young Cromer side to play in the Biss Rose Bowl final, he can be very pleased with the display from his players with both bat and ball. Also Turner and Battrick came into the first XI side Sunday and played superbly, showing that Cromer CC has great strength in depth.