An excellent Fakenham home performance saw them comfortably beat a dangerous Diss side to secure 23 points and fourth place in the Norfolk Alliance Premier Division.

Having been asked to field first in a William Blyth Ltd sponsored game Fakenham, following a shoddy bowling performance at Cromer the week before, were determined to bowl with considerably more control and patience.

Luke Caswell and Lloyd Marshall opened the bowling and both secured an early wicket to leave Diss 5-2 after three overs. The visitors were reeling as the new ball spell continued to pose problems and were reduced to 51-5 when Caswell finally finished his spell (10-0-20-2) and Marshall (7-1-17-3) was rested. It was an outstanding start for Fakenham on a good batting surface.

Wickets soon became hard to come by however as Taylor (38) in particular hung around,and along with overseas player Meenhorst (25) helped move the score to something more respectable. But when Meenhorst was dismissed by the returning Tatenda Chiradza, the floodgates opened. Yin Lo, on his seasonal club debut, finished the innings off with remarkable figures of (1.5-0-6-3) to leave Diss 133 all out.

In reply Fakenham looked to take the attack to the Diss bowlers with Harry Bammant striking two quick boundaries before being caught behind for 10. Ben Harvey joined Keegan Monahan-Fairlie, and though the bowling was good, they both managed to keep the board moving before Dan Taylor in the space of three balls, removed Harvey and then Caswell to leave Fakenham 41-3.

John Ewart signalled his intent with a couple of lusty blows before departing for 16 to leave Fakenham 64-4 and Diss smelling an upset. But this was as good as it got for them as Will Dunger joined Monahan-Fairlie who was now batting beautifully, to see the side home through to the finish with no more alarms. Dunger finished with 35 not out and man-of-the-match Monahan-Fairlie 55 not out in an unbroken stand worth 72.

Fakenham travel to Brooke on Saturday (start 12 noon).

In Division Three Fakenham A were beaten by four wickets at Bungay after being dismissed for 162. Peter Matthews was the star man for the visitors, making 72. Fakenham A are at home to Brooke A on Saturday.