Frith's 91 kills Norfolk

JEREMY FRITH emphasised his importance to the island side as Guernsey got their season off to a winning start on Saturday. Against the visiting Norfolk side at the King George V Field, Frith got the Sarnians out of some early bother with an excellent innings of 91 on which Guernsey's useful 194 for eight was based.

With the hosts having several players unavailable, including Tim Duke, Matt Oliver and Stuart Le Prevost, they soon found themselves in trouble at 16 for three with both makeshift openers Richard Veillard and Justin Ferbrache having been bowled and Ami Banerjee dismissed caught behind.

Frith provided stability though and received useful support from captain Andy Biggins, Andre van Rooyen and Aaron Scoones. He shared in 40-plus partnerships with all three.

The Cobo all-rounder eventually fell nine runs short of a century having struck nine fours and a six in his 110-ball stay at the crease.

Nick Derbyshire made an early breakthrough at the start of the Norfolk reply, but the two left-handers, Amos and Patmore, got their side back on track with a comfortable second-wicket stand of 64.

Frith was back into the action to help split them up, taking a sharp catch low down at slip off Scoones to remove Patmore.

It took an even better one to send Amos, a heavy run scorer in the Minor Counties Championship, back to the pavilion after accumulating 40.

He hit a full-blooded pull shot to square leg where substitute fielder Gary Tapp dived to his left and pouched a stunner.

Guernsey continued to claim wickets at regular intervals with only Chris Brown, formerly on Lancashire and Glamorgan's books, making a telling contribution with the bat, his 46 coming from just 54 deliveries.

Both Derbyshire and Gary Rich ended with a couple of wickets apiece as the visitors ended their 45 overs 12 runs short of the hosts.