Sam Arthurton's strong finish to the season with Norfolk saw him finish top of the batting averages – and earn his county cap.

Great Witchingham batsman Arthurton, 20, made 158 and 92 in the county's final match against Bedfordshire at Luton and was awarded his cap after the match, which ended in a draw after a thrilling finish.

His availability was restricted by his involvement with the Essex second XI, for whom he averaged 69 in the Second XI Championship. He featured in four of Norfolk's six Championship matches and also made 63 against Cambridgeshire at Manor Park.

It was a more profitable year for club professional Trevor Ward following his disappointing campaign last season. He almost matched his 2011 tally of Championship runs from half the number of innings and finished second behind Arthurton in the averages, having fired half-centuries against Staffordshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Ward also passed 3,000 Championship runs since making his Norfolk debut in 2004 during the draw against Staffordshire.

Harry Bush was another whose availability was restricted this summer, but he showed Norfolk what they were missing in his one Championship innings of 2012, hitting his maiden county century against Staffordshire at Manor Park.

The bowling attack was again led by player-coach Chris Brown, who bowled the most overs and topped the wicket chart, with 20 victims, including nine against Staffordshire.

Swardeston seamer Michael Eccles enjoyed an excellent campaign with 18 Championship wickets, his best return of four for 44 coming against Cambridgeshire.

Norfolk's MCCA Trophy campaign was obliterated by the weather, with all four group games rained off.

Minor Counties Championship

Batting

I NO R HS Av 100 50

SS Arthurton 5 1 384 158 96.00 1 2

TR Ward 6 1 265 79 53.00 0 3

JM Spelman 8 2 262 63 43.66 0 2

AM Watson 3 0 106 56 35.33 0 1

LW Caswell 3 1 68 37* 34.00 0 0

AE Shearer 4 1 91 56 30.33 0 1

PA Lambert 4 1 89 54 29.66 0 1

CJ Rogers 6 0 160 42 26.66 0 0

SK Gray 7 1 147 58 24.50 0 1

GW Walker 4 2 48 35 24.00 0 0

C Brown 2 1 21 20* 21.00 0 0

MW Warnes 2 0 0 0 0.00 0 0

H Bush 1 1 100 100* - 1 0

MP Eccles 2 2 15 9* - 0 0

KJ Bunting 1 1 7 7* - 0 0

Bowling

O M R W BB Ave

C Brown 160 48 348 20 7-83 17.40

LW Caswell 34 13 93 4 4-37 23.25

KJ Bunting 43 6 149 6 4-61 24.83

MP Eccles 144 29 467 18 4-44 25.94

AM Watson 59.3 13 166 5 2-101 33.20

MW Warnes 93.5 25 309 8 2-26 38.62

GW Walker 101.4 15 355 9 3-12 39.44

JM Spelman 45 10 121 3 2-60 40.33

CJ Rogers 5 0 32 0 - -

H Bush 11 0 42 0 - -

Catches: SK Gray 13 (+ 3 stumped), LW Caswell 7, AE Shearer 5, SS Arthurton 4, PA Lambert 4, TR Ward 2, H Bush 2, JM Spelman 2, KJ Bunting 2, C Brown 1, MP Eccles 1, MW Warnes 1, GW Walker 1, CJ Rogers 1