A tough weekend awaits!

The Rams travel to Mildenhall who have been one of the Sawston sides most consistent rivals over the last four seasons. Mildenhall currently sit joint second in the EAPL and just three points from the summit, with the Rams trailing their opponents by sixteen points in fifth.

Saturday’s match will be the Suffolk side’s first venture into red ball cricket as their match last Saturday, at Horsford, fell foul of the weather. They like the Rams can boast about victories over the reigning champions Swardeston and bottom side Saffron Walden. In addition, Mildenhall have had victories over Frinton and Great Witchingham. In common with Sawston they have just one defeat on their record so far this season, that coming against Suffolk rivals Sudbury. Whilst this Saturday we will not face two ex-England stars and a BBL star Mildenhall have recruited well. They have replaced last year’s impressive Indian Ashutosh Singh with an ex- Indian Premier League player, K C Cariappa. Cariappa is a ‘mystery’ spinner and the Rams will see him in action for the first time on Saturday as he was rested for the EAPL T20 competition. He was born in Bangalore and played for the Kings XI Punjab and Cric-Info lists him as a ‘leggie’. He has thirteen league wickets to his name already including a six-fer against Witchingham. The home side may also call on the services of Northants player Saif Zaib. They have also welcomed back a familiar face to the Ram’s Cambridgeshire players as Jack Potticary has rejoined for the 2024 season. The remainder of the side will be pretty familiar with the skipper Tristan Blackledge backed up by the Allens, Joe Tetley, Jack Loveday and a fit again Darren Ironside. Like the Rams they are a good all-round outfit with loads of match-influencers amongst their ranks.

The season ending injury to Ben Claydon, a great shame for him, and the Rams, as he was looking very good this year so far guaranteed that there was going to be a least one change to last week’s line-up. Charlie Lewis and Yousuf Choudhary join Claydo on the sidelines which means three out of last week’s top four are missing this week. However, Wayne White and Luke Spears make seasonal Saturday debuts and Jack Beaumont returns. White certainly enjoyed the deck at Mildenhall with two excellent match winning knocks in the two T20 matches on Monday. So, although we lose three batters, we gain two all-rounders and a batsman. Alex Evans also makes a comeback, looking to add to his half-centuries in his last two games. He replaces Sean Ward with the seamer returning to provide much needed all round reinforcement to the second team. Hopefully Ethan Rice will have had no adverse reaction to his first bowl since match day one. Ben Clilverd ’s shoulder injury although improving is still a fair way away from him returning to anything like ‘normal’.

Ther second team will be looking to put in a batting performance to match their impressive bowling efforts as they search for that elusive first win in the Oynx Premier One. They face a Blunham side who have had two wins and three defeats so far. Two of the three defeats have come against the top two sides in the division Ramsey and Histon but they also caused an upset when they defeated the fancied St. Giles. One of their all-rounders Tobia Van Den Heever has had a good start to the season and one of Blunham’s favourite sons Shabz Hussain is again the leading wicket taker. They have an excellent all-round side as they showed three years back when they snatched an unlikely victory after being in considerable trouble against the Rams. Skipper Ant Phillips will be crossing his fingers for better availability and will hope that the first team can throw him a few gems.

The thirds visit Aspenden, Standon and Puckeridge who have had an excellent start to their 2024 campaign. They won their first two games against Newport and Ashwell but came unstuck against Bassingbourn last time out. Scott Caine and R Fitzgerald lead the way with the bat and the Fitzgeralds L and R with the ball. Third team skipper Jake Ellis like Phillips will be hoping that improved availability from above will mean that he gets some of players back from the seconds. Last week’s seven wicket hero Alex Myles will also through his hat back in the ring.

The fourth team has a busy weekend in front of them when they play Thriplow III’s at Babraham before they travel to Barrington on Sunday for a Lower Junior Cup match (T20). Thriplow have one win, one loss by concession and last week’s tie on their record so far. Half term may mean that we have a few more juniors back this week free from the pressures of exams or it could mean that we have a few away on holiday. Picking a fourth eleven is most definitely like ‘a box of chocolates’. Skipper Adrian Platt will want to hold on to his young bowlers who performed so well last week, and despite that unbelievable ending to last week’s game he will have been encouraged by much of the performance against the league leaders.

They face a difficult task on Sunday when they face a side from two divisions higher. Barrington were once one of the power-houses of CCA Senior league cricket and it wasn’t that long ago that they were playing against our 2nd XI. However, it’s a T20 match and anything can happen. We will be allowed to strengthen the squad with some third teamers.

The other games in the EAPL sees joint second Horsford visit fourth placed Bury St. Edmunds hoping to preserve or increase their slender three point advantage.  Leaders Copdock host Frinton. Bottom side Saffron Walden meet new boys AB Wanderers. On Friday afternoon the games at Witchingham (v Witham) and Swardeston (v Sudbury) were both cancelled.