Garboldisham beat Old Buckenham in a close run final and became the winners of the Breckland Indoor League competition at Thetford Leisure Centre. Rob Fuller (capt. pictured above being presented with the trophy from Kevin Denmark), Paul Feavearyear, Gavin Barnes, Peter Barnes, Paul Baker, Sam Baker, Charlie Worby , Andrew Whistler and Luke Rackham were the players who made up the Garboldisham squad. Here’s how the match was reported in the EDP on 19 February…
The evening runs similarly to the domestic Twenty20 finals day, with four teams competing on the same evening to battle for the indoor crown. Old Buckenham, who won the Thetford group, overcame a spirited North Elmham side who have been knocked out in the semi-finals two years in a row.Garboldisham’s experience told as they comfortably overcame a youthful Bradenham side who have not reached their full potential in finals evening for the second year running and have also been knocked out at the semi-final stage for consecutive years. This meant that for a second year running the final would be between Old Buckenham and Garboldisham. In 2014 Old Buckenham were too strong for Garboldisham but in 2015 it was clear that this would be very different as Garboldisham were a much more experienced side compared to 2014.
Garboldisham won the toss and elected to bat and scored 287 for the loss of only three wickets which meant a net score of 272. This was a good score but you knew if Old Buckenham got off to a good start then they had every chance. Old Buckenham got off to a great start and had a net score of 165 after the first four overs and looked in the driving seat. But a mix of tight bowling, great fielding, and poor shots meant that by the end of the next pair Garboldisham had turned the tie on its head. Old Buckenham needed over 60 from the final pair. So it went down to the final over, with 18 to win needed. Some tight bowling led to a mistake from the batsman and a wicket was lost, from this stage on all Garboldisham had to do was protect the back wall and avoid bowling wides. They successfully did this although a winning margin of six runs tells that Buckenham never gave up hope.
Semi-finals: Old Buckenham 308/4 (net 288) bt North Elmham 306/9 (net 261) by 27 runs Garboldisham 293/8 (net 253) bt Bradenham 284/13 (net 219) by 34 runs
Final: Garboldisham 287/3 (net 272) bt Old Buckenham 291/5 (net 266) by 6 runs
