And so it begins again…
It only seems like five minutes since that eventful season and title clinching finale at Frinton, in September, where Alex Evans hit the winning boundary for the Rams to clinch their third EAPL in four years. They will doubtless want to continue that magnificent run that stands at thirteen unbeaten matches and that ensured the title returned to Cambridgeshire.
As ever, things never stagnate at SBCC and with the firsts and seconds in action we have six new Rams making their debuts. With Wayne White and George Darlow on half term leave both available, the first team have a full strength side to pick from. This posed a few selection headaches for new skipper Callum Guest. In the end he decided to give new boys Nikhil Gorantla and Henry Wilson debuts. This meant former first team skipper Dan Heath was delighted to secure the services of first team regulars Yousuf Choudhary and Ben Clilverd for the second team game.
Last year in arguably the performance of the year, given the availabilities and the fact that Ben and Ethan Rice were hampered by injuries, stand-in skipper Guest led from the front by taking the new ball off his long run before hitting an unbeaten ninety-seven as the Rams got home by eight wickets. The return match at Spicers was a victim of the weather.
The Essex side could be a surprise packet in EAPL 25 as Nick Browne and Jamal Richards, two Essex contracted players have been joined by another Essex man and Ex-Ram Noah Thain. The former two offer the visitors a bonus as they have both been registered at Witham for two years and have both played the requisite number of games so they are classed as ordinary players. Which potentially means they can supplement their squad with an overseas as well. Currently Noah is enjoying a run in the Championship side and so is unlikely to make a speedy return to Spicers. They warmed up with a six wicket win in a high scoring pre-season friendly against Sudbury. Although there were some familiar names in the line up there were also a few, as yet, ‘unknowns’.
The seconds start their campaign away at Wisbech, well you may as well get that trip out of the way early! As I mentioned skipper Dan Heath is buoyed by the inclusion of Ben and Yousuf. He also has four debutants as overseas Darcy Murphy, Tarun Mouli, and youngsters Alex James and Ethan Hayes-Fernandez all make there first starts. Ethan at fourteen is a product of our Youth set up and has made appearances for our 3rds and 4ths but it is a debut at second team level. He will no doubt out to impress Cambridgeshire’s Pathway Manager James Williams.
The Fenland and former EAPL side are likely to be spearheaded by the vastly experienced former Cambridgeshire trio of Freear, Williams and Bowers and backed up by a current Cambridgeshire player Josh Porter. There is some doubt circulating about the availability of their overseas and their dangerous quick George Gowler is rumoured to be trying pastures new. The squad will be made up by some experienced and talented performers and as a team they are probably greater than the sum of the individual parts. Last year they did the double over the Rams but in both games the Rams were probably ruing some missed opportunities. Both sides missed out on cancelled pre-season games although the Wisbech side gained some action in a warm up game against the MCC on Wednesday.