Another weekend comes to a close

Where to start? Perhaps we should take it in chronological order.

The fourths were the first team to celebrate when unfortunately, their opponents defaulted. Although like every side they like to celebrate a win they would much rather play the game and lose than just pick up twenty points.

Once again, this week our availabilities were perhaps the envy of many sides. The third team progressed to the T20 Walker Cup finals day in August, being held at Burwell, when their opponents defaulted. This was a bonus as the third team were supposed to be taking on Senior League opposition! Their prospects on the Saturday didn’t look good as bottom met top at Babraham. Lt. Shelford the visitors arrived at Babraham Park with eight wins and one cancellation on their record.

Skipper Jake Ellis must have been pleased to add Matt Worsdale and Ollie Humphreys to last week’s strong, if under-performing squad. The skipper did his bit and won the toss. They survived the early loss of the evergreen Wes Potschul with the score on fifteen. However, Sean Jenkins, freed from the seconds last week and the in-form Matthew Day then added 123 runs. Day (60 from 90 balls became Aaron Bose second victim, and the Shelford bowler (3-40) went on to pick up Jenkins (67 from 79) to complete his hat-trick of the Rams’ top three. Jenkins had added a further twenty-nine with Worsdale (32 from 29. Worsdale and Joe Latham (26 from 19) then put on another forty-seven runs as the home side went passed two hundred. Both perished along with Oli Borley as the home side sought out quick runs with Matthew Beale (2-44) and Sharjeel Shaikh (1-43) as the Rams posted an impressive 240 for 6 in their forty overs.

Cambridgeshire u16 Seb Harrison carried his bat for 76 not out (119 balls) and put on eighty-one for the first wicket with Fahim Kawsar (43 off 61 balls) before Jenkins (1-33) made the breakthrough. In an excellent fielding and bowling performance the home side continued to take regular wickets. Borley’s two run outs supplementing the excellent bowling from James Petzer (1-20), Humphreys (1-38) and the incredible eleven-year-old Vivaan Kilaru (1-39) as the away side’s reply petered out on 181 for 6 to give the bottom side a moral boosting victory. Only Steve Hewer with twenty-six was able to make any significant score in support of Harrison.

The second team were next to celebrate a win, and the first one on the turf, and incredibly it was their eighth win on the bounce as they continue their amazing run. Hard on the heels of their impressive win last week against the side in second they were matched against St. Ives and Warboys who were fourth. This was a quick return fixture following the Rams thumping 178 run victory just four weeks ago.

The visitors won the toss but were soon in trouble as Matthew Hague (3-13) and Nick Griggs (1-20) picked up four wickets with just sixteen on the board. The visitors briefly dug in as Greiller (11), and Farr (19) made it to double figures before two more of Sawston’s spinners Raven (2-22) and Mackenzie (3-28) got in to the action to remove Greiller, Ranganathan and Fox as they again slumped to 57 for 7. Farr found an ally in Yarde-Leavett (20) before Mackenzie bamboozled both. Seamer Will Bailey then (1-9) performed the last rites as the innings closed on 92 in the thirty-seventh over.

Ahmed (2-25) and Kampukkal (2-25) gave the visitors brief hope as seasonal debutant Benji Benson ( and fellow opener Will Bailey (13) both perished with only twenty-two on the board. When Callum McLean and skipper Ant Phillips both perished the Rams were four down with only fifty percent of the required runs scored. Any small doubts were banished as Croatian International Christy O’Brien (39 not out) and Hague (18) took the Rams to the brink of victory. When Hague was out to Yarde-Levitt (1-19) MacKenzie (9 not out) joined his Kiwi mate to see the Rams home inside twenty-free overs. Nearest challengers Burwell and Walden both won to keep the top of Whiting’s Two exciting and to keep the Rams ‘honest’.

Small margins and elements of good fortune assisted the Rams in the title winning campaigns of 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022. All good sides can rarely lift titles relying on pure ability alone. Although there would be little argument that Swardeston deserved their victory on Saturday, it was also clear that the sporting Gods gave them a little help as well. The day began well with Sawston skipper Dan Heath won the toss and decided to bat on what is usually a high-class batting track. Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise for the Norfolk side as the pitch offered assistance to an excellent varied attack.

In order to use a helpful surface, you still have to bowl well and Matthew Taylor (3-36), namesake Callum (2-32) and Adan Todd (1-52) in particular bowled well, it would be fair to add that both Cal and Adam both bowled even better than their figures suggest. The Rams once again started badly as the Cambridgeshire pair, openers, White and Choudhary both went early. Matthew Taylor then added Luke Spears (14) and Louis Kimber as the Rams lost two wickets within four runs as they lurched to forty-nine for four. However, leading batsmen Ben Claydon (64 from 97) and Callum Guest (74 from 112) then dug in. They had added ninety-seven when Alex Levinson removed Claydon, to a smart catch by keeper Barker, in the final over before lunch. When Levinson picked up Charlie Lewis with his first ball after lunch a challenging total looked a little way away at 146 for six.

However, the Rams bat, and dig, deep and once again that man Alex Stafford with a mix of the orthodox and unorthodox again came to the party. He scored thirty-five (from 50 balls) as he added fifty-five with the patient Guest. They had just got to the two hundred mark when Callum Taylor, finally, received reward for some lively bowling when he got rid of Stafford and Heath to leave the visitors on 205 for 8. With Alex Evans and James Vandepeer at ten and eleven Guest still knew there was no reason to panic as they search for the minimum total of 250 and had hopes of getting closer to 270. Evans (12) became Saranga Rajaguru’s (2-54) first victim when he departed leg before with the score on 228. The Sri-Lankan then picked up Guest as the innings closed in the fifty-ninth over giving the home side sixty overs to score 244. Guest’s wicket is a prized one as even today when he looked out of touch early on but he very rarely gives it away.

The heavy roller went on between innings and appeared to assist in taking a bit of life out of the surface. The Swardeston openers skipper Lewis Denmark (40 from 64) and Jordan Taylor progressed, largely untroubled, to seventy-four without loss at tea. Although, Taylor did enjoy a slice of good fortune when he got away with one, apparently making-up for a bit of bad fortune a week or so earlier, when he appeared to be well caught by Heath off a inside edge. No consolation for the Rams in an evening out of fortune!

The Rams rallied after tea as they began to squeeze the home sides reply, and nervousness, in the crowd, after a few weeks of nail-biting cricket returned once Alex Stafford had removed Denmark and then Swardeston’s leading run-maker in this campaign so far, Alfie Cooper caught by Heath down the legside, within ten runs as eighty-eight for none became ninety-eight for two. After a run a ball twenty-three from Callum Taylor was ended with a soft chip to short extra cover the home side were 126 for three.

The experienced Peter Lambert then entered the fray and despite adding forty-five runs with the opener the visitors, in particular when Stafford and Guest bowled in tandem the pressure was building. This ramped up a notch when Taylor (68 from 132) slapped a full toss straight to Kimber a midwicket to give Stafford his fourth wicket (4-66). That piece of ‘good’ fortune was short lived as soon after the Rams were down to ten men when Spears dislocated a finger trying in vain to stop a boundary. This released the shackles as Rajaguru (43 from 28) with some clean hitting combined with the more patient Lambert (50 from 62) to add an unbeaten seventy-five to take the leaders to a six wicket win with five overs to spare, and their first win against the Rams since the 2020 play off game.

The Rams will have to content themselves with 35-30 points win over the Norfolk side in EAPL 2023. It was quite a day for the home side who, rightly, celebrated their win (although I think the singing needs a bit of work!), as they beat their closest challengers whilst the other contenders failed to keep up with the leaders.

Mildenhall stuttered to a home defeat against Saffron Walden. Great Witchingham again proved stubborn and frustrating opposition against a high scoring Copdock., as did Frinton as they denied high scoring Bury. Witham looking comfortable in mid-table kept Horsford bottom, and Sudbury ended their worrying run of results to leap frog Wisbech. These results mean that Swardeston have increased their lead over the Rams to eighteen points. With then third to sixth, with Saffron Walden back in the mix, covered by just four points with the sixth placed side only thirty-one points behind Swardeston.