Bury St Edmunds captain, Sean Park, had slammed his side for a “lack of application” following the previous weekend’s six-wicket defeat at league leaders Sudbury, when they had been skittled out for just 79.

But in a dramatic change of fortunes on Saturday, Bury answered their skipper’s stinging criticism – which had effectively been a rallying cry – by inflicting a shock defeat on defending champions Swardeston.

It was an amazing result for Bury, who leapfrogged Horsford to escape the bottom rung of the East Anglian Premier League for the first time in months.

“We played some very good cricket,” enthused skipper Park. “It was a great win for us, although it will count for nothing if we then lose this weekend (away at Burwell) and Horsford win (at home to Mildenhall). Then we would be right back to square one.

“But we played some very positive cricket on Saturday. We got stuck in and we showed the sort of application that has been missing for much of this season,” added Park.

Bury restricted their Norfolk visitors to 200 all out, thanks in the main to some good bowling from the experienced pairing of Sean Cooper (three for 28) and Park (two for 40), while spinners Josh Cantrell (three for 39) and Daron Cruickshank (8-0-35-0) also played a big part.

In reply, Bury endured one of their familiar batting collapses, subsiding from 126 for two to 162 for seven, until youngsters James Sturgeon (19 not out) and Luke Du Plooy (13no) saw them over the line with 9.1 overs to spare.

“Swardeston got off to a good start, before Sean (Cooper) and I bowled each of our 10 overs straight through. We bowled well together, going for just 68 runs in those combined 20 overs,” said Park.

“The pitch suited our type of bowling, with no pace on the ball, and the ball also swinging around a little bit.

“The spinners bowled the last 10 overs, which can be a problem, but they did well, although I felt that Swardeston had still got to a competitive total.

“In our reply, we started very well for the first third, then wobbled a little in the second third, before hanging in at the end. The odds were on the fielding side, but James Sturgeon and Luke Du Plooy both batted very well. They didn’t panic,”