Mundford CC have a trip to local rivals Thetford on Saturday and captain Alex Bailey has to get his troops in the right frame of mind for what could be a season-defining game.

Mundford CC have a trip to local rivals Thetford on Saturday and captain Alex Bailey has to get his troops in the right frame of mind for what could be a season-defining game.

Sometimes in sport, you have to accept that you've been beaten by a better team on the day, that's exactly what happened to Mundford last weekend as they lost to Hethersett by seven wickets.

In a positive move, captain Bailey won the toss and chose to bat first, trying to wrestle the early initiative from their high-flying visitors.

For a change, Mundford got off to a decent start, with both Bailey and M Gooderham looking comfortable against the new ball, whilst putting away the bad ball.

Just as the partnership was starting to blossom, Bailey edged behind for a positive 17 runs.

As is usually the case in cricket, one wicket tends to bring another, as R Yates

fell cheaply but this only brought the in-form D White to the crease and he and Gooderham set about the Hethersett bowlers.

It didn't take long for White to catch up with Gooderham in the scoring stakes, with some wonderful, well-timed shots but once again, with a big score beckoning, he gave his wicket away with an awful shot!

Mundford's middle order is starting to look a little stronger with the likes of P Brassett and R Smeed making useful runs.

This proved the case on Saturday, as Brassett kept up his good form with a powerful knock of 38, whilst Gooderham went about his business, quietly accumulating a steady 50.

After a partnership of 68, the wicket of Brassett brought Ted Smeed and Gooderham together but after batting for 35 overs, Gooderham got bowled for a patient but important 51. Smeed got a brisk 25 but Mundford fell from 186 for 5 to 190 all out!

Mundford felt they were 30 runs short of par but still felt that if they got amongst the wickets early then you never know what could happen.

With precious little swing or seam movement with the new ball, Smeed struggled to create any pressure but Bailey kept bowling well with a spell of seven overs for only eight runs.

Wickets were urgently needed and M Leeder came up with the breakthrough in his first over.

Unfortunately the fall of the wicket only brought out Burnett to join Puttock for a second-wicket partnership of 70 in pretty quick time.

Leeder kept plugging away and bowled 10 overs, 2 for 35, which in the context of the game was a fantastic effort.

In truth, Mundford looked second best for most of the match against Hethersett.