Roller-coaster continues

SBCC 2nd Teams roller-coaster season continued on Saturday when they travelled to second placed Southill Park. There have been highs in excellent victories over Saffron Walden, Castor and Ailsworth and Foxton Granta, but also lows in some abject batting performances. To be fair some of lows have been partly down to poor availability and not all of this has been self-inflicted.

For the first time this year they had the benefit of being a second string as the Rams First XI were without a match. Ben Benson returned after holiday, Ant Phillips was restored after his useful first team debut and Dan Heath and Ben Clilverd were the two permitted first teamers to drop down, both in search of some form with the bat.

The hosts promoted with the Rams last year were conversely a few short of full strength. The Rams bowling unit has performed well for most of the season and they were again in good order. Unusually Chris Dixon was not among the early wickets, perhaps trying a bit too hard to please his watching mother who had flown in from Oz for a quick-fire visit. His opening partner, Clilverd, however was quickly in the game to leave the hosts at 38 for 3 after being put in to bat. Dixon however was not be kept out of the game entirely as a great turn and throw left the hosts on 45 for 4.

Southill’s skipper, Shaylen Tomlinson-Patel (52 from 75 balls), batted patiently and found an ally in the experienced Adnan Bashir (14 from 26) as they took the score to 97. Sean Jenkins (1-33) striking just before drinks. Steve Atherton then added to the home sides woes as he picked up three wickets (3-33) picking off a couple of lower order batters before snaring Tomlinson-Patel as the home skipper tried to accelerate before he ran out of partners, as the home side slumped to 138 for 8. Dixon then returned to remove ten and jack to cement his place as the leading wicket taker in the Whitlings league as the home innings closed on 153.

In reply Benson returned to open with Ian Smith (19) and in contrasting styles they added fifty-three for the first wicket before Smith became Tomlinson-Patel’s first wicket. Benson was then joined by Heath who whacked his way to 35 from 26 as they took the score quickly to 11 before Heath fell to Pratyush Ramesh. Benson (64 from 69) then became Tomlinson-Patel’s (2-26) second victim with the score on 135. With the scores level Ben Clilverd was dismissed by Ramesh, before the Rams got home by six wickets. The last wicket giving the Bedfordshire outfit a point to stop the Rams overhauling them.

The pre-season favourites for promotion Blunham and Castor are now first and second followed by the Rams and Southill who are both just five points adrift of second place.

Sawston and Babraham 3rd XI made the most of their opportunity to play at Spicers, with the 1st team having a day off, to win by a stunning 138 against Barley. The home side, who won the toss and decided to bat overcame the loss of early wickets as the usually reliable Wes Potschul and new boy Callum Hale fell. They continued to lose regular wickets despite runs from Alex Day (22), and some overdue runs from Scott Barker (29). When Sanish Gopalan bidding for a third successive fifty plus score went the innings was still in the balance. However, Joe Latham (39), back from University, followed up midweek runs with another score. He added valuable runs with skipper Jake Ellis (18) before Chris Kerby, finally, found form to make 36 not out and Charlie Borley (14 not out). The total was boosted by fifty extras as the home side finished on 229 for 7. Luke McMahon with 3-27 doing his best to stem the flow of runs. In reply Latham’s (2-17) early burst undermined the Barley innings as they also lost early wickets. However, it was the introduction of spinners Gopalan (3-23) and Sam Ronco (4-21) that led to Barley’s demise. Ronco who remarkably is a wicket-keeper for his Junior section and County Age Group teams is a highly rated spin bowler when he plays for the Rams midweek side. He started his 3rd team bowling career with a triple wicket maiden! Tom Neely (15), Ben Cayford (21), James Truett (13) and Josh Forsyth (22) all got starts but no one was able to progress to a bigger score as the visitors were dismissed for just 91.

These two great results were perhaps surpassed by SBCC’s fourth team who incredibly chased down the league leaders, Northstowe, impressive 256 to win by six wickets. A very youthful Rams attack did well to take nine of the home side’s wickets after they opted to bat first. There were four wickets for Tom Cotton (4-37) and brace each for Joel Dennington (2-41) and Sam Russell (2-50). Seasonal debutant Adam Hodgkisson (1-24) picked up the other as Sam Khan (97 no) narrowly failed to make it to three figures. Not bad from a number eight! In reply the Rams led by Gareth Everson, who had dropped down to the fourths to play with his son Dylan, made 84 (from 77 balls) as he and fellow opener James Watson (86 from 104 balls) made light of the reply. Hodgkisson then weighed in with 40 not out to take the Rams home with 11 balls to spare for an incredible win.

It was not all good news for the Rams as Mildenhall, justifying their title favourites tag, beat Swardeston by seven wickets to move to the top of the EAPL. The Rams are level on points but sit second, due to the respective number of wins, the first time this year that they haven’t been top. Copdock beat Frinton to sit third just 15 points adrift. Great Witchingham beat Norfolk rivals Horsford, and there were draws for Sudbury against Bury St. Edmunds and Witham against Saffron Walden. Frinton are bottom but the bottom four, including EAPL giants Swardeston, are separated by just 14 points.