LAST Saturday's match between Gibbs Denley East Anglian Premier League heavyweights Bury St Edmunds and Swardeston ended in a draw after the result went right down to the wire.

LAST Saturday's match between Gibbs Denley East Anglian Premier League heavyweights Bury St Edmunds and Swardeston ended in a draw after the result went right down to the wire.

With several of the morning's overs lost to two heavy showers, Bury's bowlers were keen to get about the job in hand once play started.

Despite bowling the visitors out in 54.2 overs, the Suffolk side's deliveries were wayward at times and this resulted in 26 extras being conceded, including 11 no balls.

However, when the bowling was tight, several edges saw wicketkeeper Chris Warn take five catches.

Chasing a target of 192, Bury got off to a great start as Craig Estlea (42) helped his side keep well up with the run rate, and with 20 overs left, Bury required 102 runs with eight wickets in hand.

In the next seven overs though, Estlea's wicket fell and only six more runs were added.

With the run rate increasingly rising, Bury attacked every ball but some accurate bowling and fielding saw the lower order perish and Bury fell 18 runs short of the target with one wicket in hand.

Bury vice-captain Andrew Tweedie said: “Obviously, I think if we had a few more overs, it would have been easier to chase down the score.

“In the end, though, we were having to press because we needed 10 or 11 off the last five or six overs. Obviously, the long handle was coming out then, people were taking silly singles and there were a few casualties.

“Looking back on the bowling, we had a few no balls and that is the sort of thing we can control and something we need to address.

“We were trying to bowl them out and get the points, but in hindsight maybe we could have worked on limiting their runs a bit more.”

The result means that Swardeston are 11 points clear of Bury St Edmunds at the top of the table. The two sides will meet again in the penultimate game of the season in what could be a championship decider.

Elsewhere, Clacton came away with a draw from their reduced match with Great Witchingham.

Batting first, the visitors scored 180 for the loss of just one wicket and in reply, good knocks from Martyn Cull (62) and Indika De Sarem (61 not out) kept their side in the hunt.

However, like Bury much of their middle/lower order were run out trying to keep up with the run rate and the Essex side fell 11 runs short with four wickets in hand.

In the league's other two completed matches, Godmanchester bowled Vauxhall Mallards out 32 runs short for victory, while Horsford were 108-run winners over bottom side Fakenham.