Reigning champions Downham came to the Norton Warnes on what was a glorious day, and with Michael Warnes and Sri Lankan Nish Liyinage both making their first appearances of the season skipper Tom Davies was quietly confident his young side could cause a shock result.
Davies won the toss and elected to bat first, and he and Ben Clarke took to the middle. Clarke didn’t waste any time in getting Cromer up and running hitting 3 fours and 2 sixes off Joss Stuart’s first over. But the hard hitting Clarke’s innings would end when Stuart would bowl him in his second over.
After a very expensive first over Stuart along with Richards bowled tight lines and made run scoring very difficult, and at the same time Stuart in particular was taking wickets at regular intervals. He removed Davies, Turner, Tuck and Liyinage whilst Richards took the wicket of Charlwood and Cromer were reeling on 57 for 6 from 20 overs.
Warnes and Regis halted the collapse, but their brief stand came to an end when Grady got Regis for 5. Dean Elliott joined Warnes in the middle and moved Cromer towards a more respectable total. Their partnership of 47 moved their side on to 130 before Warnes was dismissed for 34 by Grady.
There was still 12 overs remaining with Cromer having two wickets in hand so they looked to push to something beyond 150. The North Norfolk side made it to the final over but in the meantime Barrett was run out for 7 and with the penultimate ball of the innings Downham got the final wicket of Craske for 8.
Elliott finished not out on 36 as Cromer posted a score of 161 which was a brilliant effort when they were 57 for 6.
Joss Stuart finished with superb figures of 5 for 42 from his 13 overs, whilst Richards and Grady both took two wickets a piece.
Downham got off to a brilliant start in reply with Dom Tulett looking to make quick work of their chase. The Downham opener quickly made it to his half century but shortly after he was dismissed thanks to a good catch from Davies at gully off the bowling of Warnes.
The scoring rate dropped and the hosts took more wickets to really give the reigning champions something to think about. Stuart, Todd, Yates, Coe and Lanchester were now all back in the pavilion with Warnes and Elliott both taking three wickets each and after 28 overs Downham were 101 for 6.
It was then the turn of Liyinage to join the show and in his first over of his second spell he took three wickets to leave Downham 123 for 9 with 39 runs still needed. Kiwi Richards and Grady were the men remaining for the visitors and Cromer just needed one magical delivery to inflict Downham’s first defeat for two seasons.
Cromer did have one chance to take victory, hit towards Davies in close but the Cromer skipper couldn’t get his hands around the ball. Downham showed showed why they have been so successful over recent years with a never give up approach and New Zealander Richards would hit the winning runs to finish not out on 29, and his side somehow left Cromer with a victory.
Downham returned to West Norfolk knowing they had escaped the grasp of defeat but that final wicket just wouldn’t come from Cromer.
The Cromer players can hold their heads high because they took a side who have dominated the league for years right to the wire but it just wasn’t their day in the end. They proved the kind of level they can play at and similar displays throughout the remainder of the season and Cromer will prove worthy advisories to any Premier Division side.
Many thanks to Mark Charlwood for sponsoring the game.