Norfolk's winless start to the Minor Counties cricket season continued with a three-wicket defeat at Lincolnshire.

Norfolk won the toss and batted first, reaching 290-9 in their 50 overs with Sam Arthurton hitting an unbeaten 133.

Three early wickets then had Lincs at 89-3, but a fourth wicket stand of 136 from Karanjit Bansal and skipper Paul Cook saw them close down on victory.

A late flurry of wickets was not enough for Norfolk, with Lincs reaching 292-7 with four balls to spare.

Arthurton admitted after the game that his first ton at county level was a nice positive to take from the loss.

"It's obviously disappointing to contribute to the side and get a loss but it was a good innings today, I enjoyed it and it's always nice to score a few runs.

"At the start I knocked it around, paced myself, I didn't want to go too hard too early, me and Trevor Ward put on a good partnership there," he said.

"At the end there when the wickets were going I felt I had to up the rate a little just to get us to a respectable total," he added.

The 18-year-old batsman admitted to BBC Lincolnshire that he was sure their total would have been enough to secure victory.

"We were happy with the score, the wicket did a little bit and I felt that with early wickets we could have got a foot in the door.

"A couple of their guys batted really well and it was a tight match, but yes, when you get 290 on any wicket you back yourself, I felt we could have won that," he said.

Norfolk lost all four of their MCCA Trophy group-games in George Walker's first summer as captain, they begin their Championship campaign away to Northumberland at Jesmond on Sunday, 12 June 2011.

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