Grimston hosted Thornham in a Saturday/Sunday double-header at the weekend, with a win for each side in two contrasting matches.
Grimston’s Saturday team, captained by Andrew Tilbrook, needed a victory to restart their promotion drive and made a good start by winning the toss and electing to bat in favourable conditions.
Tilbrook made a good start, scoring 27 runs before being bowled by Benji Richardson, and Mike Mallett also added a useful 17 runs to the total; however the standout performance was from James Hoyland scoring 43 not out in only his fifth game of cricket.
Grimston finished their innings on a respectable 148 runs, Michael Randall taking five wickets for Thornham and George Gooderson with three catches.
Thornham captain Nat Linsell opened the batting but failed to make headway, caught behind by Sam Adkin from the bowling of Bharathi Krishnan.
Pete Rose had more luck, scoring 42 before being dismissed in the same way. Bradley Williams and George Gooderson both added 21 runs, and it fell to first-teamer Alex Fry to see the team home on 151-9 in a nail-biting encounter.
Grimston’s Sunday team, captained by Mark Tilbrook, made a blistering start to their innings, scoring 197 runs before the first wicket fell - Mark Tilbrook dismissed by Micah Randall on 104, with opening partner Mark Pickering caught behind soon after, scoring a career-best 78.
Joe Moss added 38 runs to the tally and Ali Khalid scored eight on his return to cricket for Grimston, who finished with an imposing total of 252-6.
Thornham took to the field with Nat Linsell once again opening the batting, scoring an assured 41 runs before being caught by Joe Moss from the bowling of Dave Persey.
Dylan Fryett also scored well for Thornham, with 25 runs from 20 balls until Tom Wallace struck with a superb delivery. Despite good performances from Adam Rose (18) and Dave LeMoir (16) it wasn’t enough, and Thornham were all-out for 144 runs.
Grimston CC sit fifth in Division 4 West on Saturdays, but proudly top-of-the-pile on Sunday with promotion to the Elite Division in sight.
