Frankie Sutton gets an A star on WNCC debut
WNCC were delighted to welcome I Zingari CC to Norfolk and were equally thankful to Greshams school to allow us to use their 1st XI ground. I Zingari, founded in 1845, were captained by Simon Talbot Williams (WNCC hon. sec) and elected to bat.
Cameron Black took the new ball and the 1st wicket after Chris Sutton took an extraordinary catch behind him at 2nd slip. Ben Stanton and Jethro Agnew kept a tight grip on the scoring although were undeservedly wicketless. Frankie Sutton (Jnr), the day before his GCSE’s and on debut, was asked to bowl left arm spin, and having never bowled spin before in a competitive match bowled 17 overs unchanged. At lunch IZ were 100 for 5 with wickets for Goodley, 2 for Sutton and 1 more for Black. Matthew Fleming (WNCC, Kent and England – in that order!) produced a batting masterclass after lunch to take IZ over 200 and a very reasonable declaration with Sutton Jnr getting the only further wicket to fall.
Blackiston and Sutton Snr opened the batting and survived up to tea with 70 on the Board. Sutton made his 2nd consecutive WNCC fifty, ably assisted by Holden who made a hearty 43 before forgetting that gentlemen don’t run 3’s and duly got run out. Frankie Sutton then came to the WNCC rescue and at 15 years old had obviously never played for WNCC by showing a mature head on young shoulders to guide the team home, ably assisted by Richard Thompson.
The records will show that WNCC won by 5 wickets, but it was Frankie Sutton who produced an A star performance the day before his GCSE’s.
