A RECORD county eighth-wicket stand of 124 was the highlight of the third and final day of Suffolk's opening Minor Counties Championship match of the season against Norfolk at Mildenhall on Tuesday.

A RECORD county eighth-wicket stand of 124 was the highlight of the third and final day of Suffolk's opening Minor Counties Championship match of the season against Norfolk at Mildenhall on Tuesday.

The two teams were unable to conjure up a positive result as the rain had the final say and stumps were drawn early with Norfolk 96 without loss in their second innings - still 14 runs in arrears of Suffolk's first innings score in the rain-affected match.

Suffolk had to settle for 10 points - four bowling and two batting bonus points plus four for the draw - and their opponents eight points.

However, all-rounders Paul King and Chris Swallow set a new highest partnership for the eighth wicket after coming together with Suffolk struggling at 126 for seven.

King, with a previous highest score of 40 for Suffolk, and Swallow set about repairing the damage. The runs came in just 97 minutes off 152 balls, with King scoring 88 as opposed to Swallow's 30 before the latter was caught at short leg just before lunch.King spooned a chance two short of his century to mid on where David Ward took his third catch of the day.

King's 98, which occupied 87 balls and 111 minutes, was laced with nine fours and three big sixes - two of them straight and one over mid-wicket.

Carl Amos and opening partner Carl Rogers wiped off all but 14 runs of the deficit, but no sooner had Amos struck Swallow to the boundary off the last ball of the 28th over - the first after tea - than another shower saw the players leave the field at 5pm.