Mixed fortunes at the weekend for The RAMS!

Sawston and Babraham extended their lead at the top of the EAPL when then defeated Bury St. Edmunds by nine wickets on Saturday.

This was an almost perfect end to what had been a difficult week for the Rams. Already missing Matthew Hague and Noah Thain through long term injuries before the start of the week they added Rishi Patel to this list when the Leicestershire player injured his ankle. Things got worse when the Guests, Callum and Ethan and Aaron Thomas were all ruled on due to Covid issues. Fortunately, the Rams second string were without a game and not all of them had gone to Lords, so Ben Benson, Scott Stanford and Nick Griggs were all added to the squad.

Bury won the toss and on a used strip decided to bat. Sawston’s opening bowlers Mark Smith (2-45) and James Vandepeer (3-31) worked their usual early magic to reduce the visitors to 45-5 after just over ten overs. Cambridgeshire’s Ben Seabrooke (28) was the only one of the top five to make it to double figures. There was no let up for Bury when Ben Clilverd replaced Vandepeer. Fresh from his own Covid enforced break he picked up three wickets in the sixteenth over before the in-form seamer finished with 5-22 from five overs. George Lloyd (17) and Ben Whittaker (13) had offered some resistance bit it was left to the final pair of Sam Aldous (12) and James Mckinney (11 no) to add twenty-four runs to help the depleted visitors to a below par 106.

Second team skipper Ben Benson (24) showed glimpses of his fine form (that has brought him over 600 runs in the second team campaign) as he added 43 for the first wicket with makeshift opener Vandepeer. The Rams ‘all-rounder’ bringing up his half-century (50 no form 59 balls) just before he and Waqas Hussain (21 no) steered the Rams home for a comfortable victory in just 23 overs.

There was even better news later on in the day when in a topsy-turvy game at Gt. Witchingham Mildenhall got themselves over the line after chasing the requisite 152 with nine wickets down. Indeed, they needed a 32 run last wicket partnership to win the game. This result lifted Mildenhall clear of the pack and into fourth place. The Rams win puts them 31 points ahead of Gt Witchingham and 36 ahead of Swardeston who chased 270 to win at Exning. The South Cambridgeshire outfit have a difficult run in when they next travel to Mildenhall before facing three sides that have inflicted rare defeats against the Rams in the last two seasons, Witchingham, Cambridge and Copdock.

It was not quite such a good day for the Club’s 3rd XI as they suffered only their second defeat of the season as they chase their own title in CCA Junior 3s. Former first team captain Liam Flynn answered the call and in an all too rare appearance top scored with 46, Chris Kerby (33) and Sumit Siddarth (29) helped the home side to 200 all out despite three wickets for George Greenwood (3-35) and two for Bonham Harper (2-41). In reply Royston strolled home by six wickets as Chris Guest (52) and Rory Harper (42) made decent contributions before James Moule (27) and Greenwood (17) saw the visitors home. Wins for Thriplow and Fen Ditton meant the Rams slipped back to third in the table but promotion and the title are both still in the Rams’ own hands as they have games in hand. They have a massive game next week when they visit Fen Ditton.

Sawston’s fourth team posted a creditable 178 for nine when they visited Camborne on Saturday. In a season where they have blooded many youngsters poor availability meant that they had to rely on the old guard this week. Andrew Leonard in a rare Saturday appearance rolled back the years as he hit 83, he received good support from Marcus Wetzl (28) and Rob Benson (26). The home side made light of the chase as opener Rupesh Chelliah carried his bat for 71. Henry Ashman (40) and James Barker (33 no) ensured a comfortable win for the home side. This defeat concluded a fantastic season for the fourths, where their twin objectives of fulfilling all the fixtures and introducing as many youngsters into adult cricket was achieved. Team manager Jeff Free deserves much credit for this but he has been rewarded by some promising performances and some stunning victories.

With the Competition rules heavily stacked against the Third XI they had already massively over-achieved by reaching the Lower Junior Cup Finals Day for the third consecutive time. This year, the holders (winners in 2019) were first on in the first semi-final drawn against Lt. Shelford II’s, both sides from CCA Junior Division 3 S.

Jake Ellis the Rams skipper, and arguably the Club’s most successful T20 captain. Won the toss and elected to bat. The Rams despite losing Ian Smith early set of at a decent pace but kept losing wickets at the wrong time and were at a crossroads at 58 for 4, having just lost the experienced pair of Wes Potschul (22) and Robbie Matthews. Teenager Joe Latham then entered the fray where he batted maturely and struck the ball cleanly as he hit 41 (from 26 balls, 5 x4, and two maximums). He added 57 runs with Chris Kerby (19 from 11) and then another 35 with Andrew Leonard. The latter batting with the tail to get the Rams to 163 in their 20 overs. There were three wickets for Fahmid Khan (3-32) and two for David Bennett (2-18) but none for wild-card pick Nathaniel Slack, the one permitted player from their 1st XI. The Lt. Shelford reply was soon in trouble as teenager Henry Butler picked up two early wickets to reduce them to 16-2. Slack then came to the wicket and he added an excellent 41 (from 29 balls, 4 x 4, and two sixes). More importantly he helped to add 89 runs with a number of partners. Fortunately for the Rams that man Latham (3-32) was picking up wickets and catches. When Kerby dismissed Slack at 103 for 6 and Ian Smith picked up another wicket at 108 for 7 the game looked done and dusted. The experienced Haren Gamage had other ideas as he hit 25 for just 14 balls. A nerveless death bowling spell from Butler who picked up Gamage in his penultimate over before taking another in his final over to finish with 4-16, ensured the Rams won by just 9 runs.

The second semi looked like being a one-sided affair after Sam Hawley’s 106 (from 60 balls, 7 x 4 and four sixes) and Nathan Keylock’s 47 no (from 17 balls, 7 x4 and two maximums) ensured Linton scored an imposing 205 for 3. These two had impressed in the previous week as Linton’s first team had beaten NCI II’s to win the Junior Cup final. Despite scoring runs at a decent pace the Cambridge side lost regular wickets but NCI skipper Taz Islam refused to give up the fight as he hit 68 not out from 35 balls (9 x 4 and one six) as he became a crowd favourite. NCI finishing agonisingly close on 201 for 7.

In the final Linton batted first and Butler (3-22) struck early to remove the dangerous Hawley however the uber-experienced Mick Wilson (37 from 35) and Keylock (18 from 16) got the innings off to a good start. Both were dismissed with Latham (1-26) and Leonard (1-24) picking up the wickets, thanks to good catches by Smith and Latham. Linton Skipper Max Wilson (38 from 34) before being run out by Smith ensured that Linton posted a competitive total. The innings closed on 145 for 8 as Smith picked up 2 for 11, and Butler (3-22) once again very impressive. The Rams opted for experience and a steady start when Potschul (23 from 21) and Matthews (20 from 17) opened up adding almost fifty for the first wicket. They had just hit the accelerator when Potschul was dismissed. They then hit the self-destruct button as the unnecessary run-out of Matthews let to the loss of three wicket for three runs as 49 for no wicket became 54 for four. Scott Barker (17 from 18) was just going through the gears when he was dismissed on 67. Veteran Leonard (33 from 23) then revived the Rams reply taking it deep before being dismissed on the final ball of the nineteenth. Dom Cameron (12 no) despite a six in the penultimate over was unable to repeat the feat in the last over as the Rams finished 8 runs short of what would have been an unbelievable title retention. Polley (3-24) and Laskey (2-18) made sure of a Linton cup double, winning both the Junior Cup and Lower Junior Cup on successive Sunday’s.