North Runcton 3rds win one-wicket thriller

North Runcton 3rds edged out Beeston on Saturday in a highly-entertaining Norfolk League game that went down to the wire.Winning the toss and bowling first, Aaron Minister and Max Barnes set the tone in this Division Four West clash and restricted the Beeston openers to very few scoring opportunities.Archie Rowe almost took a wicket with his first ball in senior cricket but only had to wait three more balls before removing the Beeston opener.Harry Waite then took his first wicket of the day removing the other Beeston opener.Great fielding from the whole team continued to restrict the Beeston batters. Joby Rumbellow (0-17) produced some good swing bowling on his senior debut and the reintroduction of Aaron Minister saw the Beeston middle order tumble.Max Barnes bowled well throughout (0-15 from 10) and deserved to take a wicket.Minister finished 3-24 from his 10 before Waite and Rowe returned, taking the final five wickets for 17 runs. Rowe finished with 2-20 from seven overs and Waite finished with his maiden five-wicket haul (5-38), the match ball and a broken bail. A great bowling performance from the youthful Runcton bowling attack was backed up with catches by Max, Sam Major and Fred Warren-Smith.Credit to Jacob Booth for keeping the ball in great shape to allow the bowlers to get the best from the conditions. Beeston bowled out for 118 inside 41 overs.The Runcton top order struggled against the Beeston opening bowlers and the first five wickets fell for just nine runs. Still needing 110 to win, Minister and Johan Verdoes chipped away at the required runs and a 73-run partnership later, Runcton needed 37 when Azza departed for a well-made 28.Barnes joined Verdoes before the latter fell just three runs short of a deserved half-century to leave 20 to win. But Barnes controlled the situation superbly and despite Waite being run out, the total ticked closer to 119.The bizarre run out of Rowe left Runcton needing six with Joby Rumbellow the final man in.A four followed by a wide saw Runcton home.