Grimston do the weekend double over Narborough

A quirk of the fixture list saw Grimston Cricket Club face Narborough on Saturday and Sunday this weekend in a home/away double-header.The Saturday side was led by captain Andrew Tilbrook, who won the toss and elected to bat first.Opening pair Mike Mallett (4) and Liam Woodcock (27) took to the field on a batting-friendly track, and weathered the first few overs before both falling to D Cornwall.Vivek Kajjam added 23 runs to the total, but the standout batting performance was from James Allitt with 53 not out.Grimston finished their innings with 188 runs all out.Narborough’s Saturday 2nd team had a large total to chase down but were impervious to the pressure, with Cornwall (10) and Thompson (20) soaking up everything Grimston could throw at them and keeping the scoreboard ticking over.O. Bell top scored with 29 as Narborough fell just short, ending their innings with 156 all out in the final over. Andrew Tilbrook took four wickets for only six runs in a spin bowling masterclass. Sunday saw the away fixture, with brother Mark Tilbrook captaining the team against Narborough’s Sunday team.Having lost the toss, Grimston were sent into bat with Tim Tilbrook and Mark Pickering amassing 31 runs, before Pickering was dismissed on 23 – a superb catch from young J. Birchall.Wickets soon began to tumble until a determined partnership between Tim Tilbrook (38) and Sam Adkin (15) steadied the ship. Grimston ended their innings with a total of 150 all-out. A. Steeles was the pick of the bowlers with 3 wickets.Narborough started their innings brightly, with M. Mayor-Webb scoring 17 and useful contributions from the rest of the top order. J. Steeles and K. Wymer formed the core of the middle order adding 29 and 15 runs respectively.However, after Steeles fell victim to the bowling of Mark Pickering, caught behind by Adkin, Narborough’s resistance began to fade and their innings were completed for 98 runs. Club chairman Tim Tilbrook was pleased to see both his teams win, and paid credit to the opposition, saying: “We don’t get to visit Narborough very often, and it’s a beautiful ground.”They’re a wonderful club with some very talented youngsters in their side, we’re looking forward to playing them again.”