Thomas RooneyOld Buckenham secured their place in the quarter-finals of the Carter Cup after defeating Bradenham in an entertaining encounter on Sunday.Skipper Terry Perry set the tone, batting through the innings to finish 122no as the home side posted an impressive 306 for four.Thomas Rooney

Old Buckenham secured their place in the quarter-finals of the Carter Cup after defeating Bradenham in an entertaining encounter on Sunday.

Skipper Terry Perry set the tone, batting through the innings to finish 122no as the home side posted an impressive 306 for four. Bradenham then fell 26 runs short of their target, despite an unbeaten 134 from Mpho Selowa.

Earlier, Bradenham won the toss and decided to field on an overcast morning. Old Buckenham openers Perry and Thomas Banham (61) made a solid start to proceedings, running positively as they put on an opening stand of 124.

Banham was bowled by the spin of Lewis Denmark in the second over after lunch, bringing James Alexander to the crease at a time when spin duo Denmark and Patrick Dewing kept things tight for the visitors.

During the 42nd over, a misfield handed Alexander a four, relieving the pressure slightly. Perry and Alexander then continued to up the rate, with each batsman hitting boundaries through the covers off Denmark in the following over.

They continued to capitalise on bad deliveries, before Alexander fell for 42 as he flicked an Al Bates delivery straight to mid-wicket. New batsman Ian Harrison (27) was immediately positive, hitting two excellent straight drives early in his innings.

Perry continued to lead by example and the total soon pushed towards 300. The 54th over was particularly productive with 17 runs coming from it.

The batsman were playing a shot a ball at this stage and this led to Bates claiming the wicket of Harrison and Simon Mathewson (4) falling to Ashley Stolworthy.

James Heaney (16no) helped push the score above 300, with 17 hit off the final over.

In response, Bradenham started cautiously with Andrew Lawrence bowling threatening lines to keep the scoring rate down.

The breakthrough came with the score on 45, Phil King forcing Denmark to loft his shot straight to square leg. This brought Selowa to the crease and he played with early confidence, stroking the ball around nicely.

The number three batsman survived two appeals for caught behind and played aggressively throughout, but the middle order failed to support him sufficiently.

Captain Kevin Blakey (38) played some powerful shots, but his resistance was ended when Lawrence stormed in from the boundary to take a superb catch.

Selowa brought up his century with a trademark boundary in the 49th over, but tight bowling ensured that Bradenham could only reach 280 for nine.

King (four for 45) had the pick of the figures, but Heaney (two for 52) and Lawrence (one for 46) also impressed.

Winning captain Perry said: "I felt 306 was a decent score. We stuck at it when they bowled well and eventually got our rewards."

As for his own mammoth innings, Perry admitted he was pleased: "It's always nice to go all the way through the innings and do a job for your side," he said. "Now we need to go as far as we possibly can in this competition."