WATTON CC marked the start of the second half of the season with a nail-biting victory over bottom-of-the-table Ashmanhaugh A.Winning the toss, club captain Paul Norman elected to bat first on a dry, hard wicket which looked full of runs.

WATTON CC marked the start of the second half of the season with a nail-biting victory over bottom-of-the-table Ashmanhaugh A.

Winning the toss, club captain Paul Norman elected to bat first on a dry, hard wicket which looked full of runs.

Watton made an excellent start with openers Rob Walsh and Matt Webster punishing any short or wide deliveries, the score raced past 50 runs inside the first seven overs.

The batsmen continued to score quickly as Ashmanhaugh changed the bowlers.

It was only the experienced S Trimmer who stemmed the run rate.

Watton's openers registered their first century opening stand of the season, before Trimmer bowled Walsh (34).

Ashmanhaugh's bowlers began to fight back, after Webster (67 runs) was removed by his bowler namesake, Watton began losing wickets regularly.

Only captain Norman bucked the trend with a typical swashbuckling innings of 35 runs.

Trimmer was pick of the bowlers and deserved to return bowling figures of 5-37 runs from his spell.

Watton were all out in their 36th over, posting a decent total of 185.

After tea, Gavin Norman immediately removed one of the opening batsmen in his first over.

Thereafter, Watton's bowlers failed to penetrate quickly through Ashmanhaugh's talented young batsmen.

K Smith scored a solid 30 runs before he was given out lbw off Paul Norman's bowling.

R Sanders continued to push the total higher, until Morgan Burt removed his off-stump with an excellent delivery.

The run chase kept up with the required run rate even though Watton's bowlers were regularly taking wickets.

With three overs remaining, Ashmanhaugh needed 29 runs, the game appeared to be Watton's to lose.

With a mixture of great skill and good luck, to the delight of the watching home crowd, Ashmanhaugh reduced the target to only three runs off the last ball.

Fortunately for Watton, bowler Gavin Norman held his nerve to produce an unplayable delivery, preventing the batsmen from scoring any runs and ensuring Watton held on to win a nail-biting victory.

This latest win takes Watton back to up to third place in the division.

They look forward to entertaining Norwich and Coltishall Wanderers at Watton Sports Centre on Saturday from 2pm.

Watton: R Walsh b Trimmer 34, M Webster b Webster 67, C Gill c Trimmer 8, P Norman c Everett 35, G Norman b Trimmer 0, J Parker b Billing 6, R Dicks b Trimmer 0, D Norman b Trimmer 9, M Burt c Sanders 5, D Burridge not out 4, B Renton c Sanders 4; extras 14. Total (35.4 overs) 186. Bowling: T Daynes 6-1-32-0, R Fletcher 4-0-33-0, S Trimmer 10-0-45-5, I Webster 6-0-44-1, J Everett 3-0-14-1, A Sanders 3.4-0-6-2, M Billing 3-0-8-1.

Ashmanhaugh: K Smith lbw Norman 30, T Daynes b Norman 4, R Sanders b Burt 36, A Sanders b Norman 6, R Stibbon b Norman 1, J Everett b Norman 24, M Billing st B Walsh 19, R Fletcher b Walsh 9, Z Humphrey-Davis run out Walsh 18, I Webster not out 11, S Trimmer not out 0; extras 26. Total (45 overs) 184-9. Bowling: G Norman 11-0-31-1, D Burridge 6-0-29-0, P Norman 12-3-21-4, R Dicks 6-0-29-0 M Burt 6-0-32-1, R Walsh 4-0-26-2.