2 Memorable run chases!

In what was already a difficult weekend in terms of the quality of the opposition things took a turn for the worse when the summer suddenly decided to end without giving much notice. The First team travelled to Mildenhall, one of the form team of the East Anglian Premier League who were last defeated on 12 June. They had also beaten the Rams nearest rivals, Gt. Witchingham, last week with an outstanding last wicket partnership.

On Saturday the Rams skipper Dan Heath, again won the toss and under a heavy sky and with a pessimistic weather forecast elected to field. The home side got of to a flyer with Cambridgeshire’s Jack Potticary being particularly brutal with thirty of this thirty-two coming in boundaries. However, in the eighth over with the score on 48 he went for one big shot too many and was leg before to the in-form James Vandepeer. When change bowlers Ben Clilverd and Tim Moses picked up Tom Rash and Darren Ironside respectively the scoring rate had slowed to under five per over. Although Nicholas Smit (21 not out from 51 balls) and Matt Allen (13 from 25 balls) were building the Sawston outfit were putting them under severe pressure. This pressure intensified when the Rams’ spin twins Callum Guest and George Darlow bowled the next three over for a miserly four runs before the rain intervened.

When the players came off the home side were 107 for three off 28 overs. The rain came and went, and then came again, and despite Mildenhall 4ths ignoring the weather on the adjacent pitch it was looking like there would be no further play. The umpires sensibly took an early lunch to minimise the lost time but in the end it was 5.15 before play resumed. It was decided that the Mildenhall innings had finished with Messrs Duckworth, Lewis and Stern deciding that the Rams needed an improbable 171 from just 28 overs. A defeat wouldn’t be disastrous but a win would be massive.

The Rams set off in chase and made a conscious effort to stay up on the run rate from ball one and to try and keep ahead of the DLS target as the innings progressed. There were solid performances all down the order with makeshift opener Vandepeer (22), Callum Guest (35), Aaron Thomason (13) and Moses (12) all keeping the chase going. Guest’s younger brother Ethan added some serious momentum (with 27 from 14 balls) in a crucial partnership with his brother where they added 41 from just 25 balls. Mildenhall continued to pick up wickets as Matt Allen (2-22), Smit (2-27) and Ironside (2-23) threatened to keep their impressive sequence going as they chase a top three finish. At 145 for 9 the game was theirs. However, AP Stafford with 25 not out from 21 balls and Mark Smith (5 no from 14 balls) mirrored the heroics from the Mildenhall last pair in the previous week to see the Rams home with seven balls to spare and an unbelievable victory.

The win leaves the Rams forty-nine points clear at the top with only three games to go, but there are still three tough games left for Sawston and Babraham all against opposition that have better records than most against them. The Rams second string were again without a match, but a failure to pick up a maximum points victory by Southill Park means the Rams will need just two points to win the Cambridgeshire and Hunts Premier Three title in their final game next weekend.

The Clubs third team put the narrow failure to hold on to the Lower Junior Cup behind them as they returned to the top of the table in CCA Junior 3 after defeating one of their main rivals Fen Ditton. In another match reduced by poor weather Fen Ditton batted first in a game reduced to 25 overs. They posted a creditable 127 for 9 with solid contributions from Adam Brown (27), Jonny Purkiss (20) and Joe Reeds (16 no). The Sean’s Jenkins (2-23) and Ward (2-24) picking up braces but all the Sawston bowlers managed to pick up a wicket. In reply the visitors lost the usually prolific Jenkins with none on the board and then continued to lose all too regular wickets to find themselves 80 for 7 with Robbie Matthews (24) the only batsman to make it into double figures. Brown (4-14), Purkiss (2-7) and Reeds (2-27) doing their best to keep the Fen Ditton title hopes alive. Sean Ward (32 no from 26 balls) then played a match winning innings as he with help from Torin Phelps and Jake Raven (12 no for 7 balls) saw the Rams home for a two-wicket success, and seven balls to spare!

The Rams now sit top of their league having doubled main rivals Fen Ditton and Thriplow. They now need nine points to guarantee promotion and eleven to guarantee the title. They face the sides currently in the bottom two in the next couple of weeks.