Mildenhall captain, Ben Shepperson, felt that his team needed just one more wicket at the top of the order to secure a victory at unbeaten Great Witchingham on Saturday.

The visitors posted a respectable total of 244 all out, with two balls left of their allotted 50 overs, and they looked on course for what would have been a second win of the summer when taking three early wickets in the home side’s reply. However, Luke Schlemmer (106 not out) and Michael Jones (58) then shared a match-winning partnership for the fourth wicket as Great Witchingham wrapped up victory by five wickets, with 2.4 overs in hand.

“We are proving very competitive at this level, which is what we wanted to be, and I’m sure we will wreap the rewards,” explained Shepperson.

“We have a few games coming up which we will be targeting, like Bury (at home) this weekend.

“We felt that we could have scored 30 or 40 more runs on Saturday, which would have put the pressure on Great Witchingham. Our top four batsmen all got in, and it’s always nice to get to 50, but you really need to make that count by going on to makes 70s and 80s.

“Still, it wasn’t a bad total and we were in real contention when we had them at 40-odd for three.

“However, I think that Great Witchingham have the best top five batsmen in the league, and they really nullified our attack and ticked along with the runs.

“If we had got one more wicket, then I think it would have been game over, and we would have won quite early, but we didn’t manage that,” added Shepperson.

Openers Joe Reed (59) and Kyle Morrison (36) provided Mildenhall with a good platform, and Peter Worthington also hit a half-century (56 off 63 balls) at No. 3.

Shepperson (19) and Adam Trett (17) also got themselves in, but there was no one able to make a big score.

West Indian pace-man Tino Best, who made 28 at No. 8, took two early wickets in the home side’s reply, accounting for James Spelman (13) and James Hale (bowled for a duck), while Worthington trapped skipper Sam Arthurton (15) leg before.

But Schlemmer’s unbeaten 106 off 117 balls, including three sixes, together with Jones’ 58 from 69 deliveries, took the game beyond Mildenhall.