Arendse and Davies were dismissed early and after 10 overs Cromer were 29 for 2. The young partnership of Richard Charlwood and Michael Warnes was now asked to steady the visitors’ innings, and the pairing duly obliged. Together they put on 61 from 15 overs before Charlwood was out for 16 off the bowling of Warburton.
Shortly after Warnes was dismissed for 39, and Cromer were on 100 with 11 overs remaining. Colin Brown added some quick runs and finished not out on 39, from 43 balls. Adrian Buck also scored a quick 13 before getting out to Warburton. From the final three overs Cromer added just 12 runs and finished 153 for 8 from their 40 overs.
Warburton took two wickets for Topcroft, but D. Todd did the most damage taking three wickets in his short spell at the end of the Cromer innings.
Topcroft wasted no time in trying to reach their target of 154. Although Warnes made an early breakthrough dismissing Warburton, the home team were 80 for 2 at the 20 over mark.
Topcroft seemed to be cruising towards victory but when Dean Elliott bowled the pro Gunawardene for 36, the runs slowed up and a close finished seemed on the cards. Baldwin and Shipley prevented any chance of a collapse with a useful 22 partnership. Then Shipley along with Goodfellow guided Topcroft towards victory with a stand of 33.
After the wicket of Goodfellow the game was in Topcroft’s hands as they needed just 10 runs from 17 balls. Topcroft comfortably reached their target with an over and five wickets to spare. Shipley finished not out on 24 and Batty was 7 not out.
Warnes and Brown batted well to both make 39, but there were few other positives to come from the Cromer display, and this five wicket defeat marked the third straight loss in the league.
Much improvement is needed if they are to avoid getting involved in a battle at the bottom of the table.
This Saturday sees the visit of North Runcton to Norton Warnes, and captain Tom Davies will be hoping for a return to winning ways.