Two wins and two centurions on day one of the season

The Rams quite literally carried on where they had left off in the 2024 EAPL. They extended their exceptional EAPL run to fifteen undefeated matches with ten wins on the spin. In common with the last day of EAPL 2024 Ben Claydon and Lee Thomason again took centre stage. At Frinton last September the pair came to the crease with the side three down for just ten runs before they added a match winning one hundred and forty three run partnership. Yesterday they came together perhaps not quite at crisis point but it was certainly at a point at which the game where the contest was firmly in the balance. This time the pair surpassed that previous partnership with one that was just three runs shy of two hundred. This superb effort coming off just one hundred and eighty-two balls.

This partnership came after SBCC had won the toss and new skipper Callum Guest had bravely, in some eyes, opted to bat. The skipper opened up with Wayne White with whom he had shared a number of fantastic opening stands throughout the second half of 2024. The pair faced a lively opening salvo from Matthew Wareing (1-34) and Witham’s new overseas Sam Greer (1-71). The skipper fell first with Wareing picking up a deserved first scalp of the season following an excellent first spell with controlled swing. Debutant Nikhil Gorantla joined White and they were just beginning to look comfortable as they added twenty-nine runs in taking the score just past the fifty mark. The Essex side however struck back with two wickets in six balls as Gorantla fell to a smart catch by Cody McDonald off the bowling of Luke Gouldstone (2-55) before the wily Greg Stephens (1-43) had White caught behind as both fell with the score on fifty-one. Jack Beaumont joined Claydon and they added twenty-seven before the former handed Gouldstone his second wicket.

Claydon and Thomason saw the Rams to the ‘safety’ of drinks with the score on ninety-nine for four at the half-way stage. The pair survived the curse of drinks and steadily moved the partnership past the half century off ninety-eight balls. The Rams one-fifty was the next milestone coming up in the thirty-eighth over. Claydon was first to his personal half-century (off 80 balls) before being joined by his partner (off 68 balls). The fifth wicket stand moved into three figures (from 131 balls) before both batters hit the ‘gas’.  The Rams moved past two hundred in the forty-second before the fireworks really started. The one-fifty partnership arrived in just under a run a ball (off 156 deliveries), with the last fifty coming off just twenty-five balls. This carnage was aided by some wayward bowling as the wheels came off for the visitors. The Sawston two hundred and fifty was then brought up in the forty-seventh. Claydon reached his first ever hundred for the Rams off one hundred and thirteen deliveries. Thomason then perished in the search of more quick runs when his superb display was ended on eighty-two (off 88 balls with 8 x 4 and three maximums) when Cody McDonald (1-31) picked up his first wicket of EAPL 25. This brought another debutant Henry Wilson to the crease, he must have been suffering a severe case of pad rash as he had waited thirty overs to get his opportunity. He gave his new supporters a brief glimpse of his talent with a cracking driven boundary. Claydon stayed around to steer the side passed three hundred as the latest fifty came off just eighteen legitimate balls. Claydon’s knock of one hundred and fourteen came off one hundred and twenty-two balls (with fifteen boundaries). He was quick to acknowledged the crowd and in particular his net bowler(his father Russell). The innings closed on an impressive three hundred and eight for six with young Rams Wilson and Ethan Rice at the crease.

The Witham innings with youngster Harrison McDonald accompanying skipper Michael Godwin got off to a secure but steady start. The score had progressed to thirty five when Wayne White took an excellent catch to remove McDonald off the bowling of Beaumont. James Vandepeer (1-18) then removed ex-Saffron Walden skipper and Witham EAPL debutant Josh Down just nine balls later. The Witham skipper and his long-time opening partner Chris Huntington then moved the score along to fifty-six at towards the end of the fifteenth when Beaumont struck again having Godwin (28) caught by Claydon. Beaumont (3-23) then trapped Cody McDonald in-front just twelve runs later. Former skipper Jake Wakelin and Huntington then started to repair some of the damage as they moved the Essex side into three figures at the end of the twenty-third. Sawston skipper Guest then had Wakelin caught behind, by Thomason, three balls after the break as the dreaded drinks curse struck. When Guest (2-26) struck again just nine runs later to remove the fluent Huntington (43 from 49 balls) with the score on one hundred and twenty for six (in the twenty-eighth) the writing was on the wall. A spirited partnership between Greer and Hawes added forty-three at almost a run a ball. Opening bowler Rice (1-39) return to dismiss the Witham overseas. Hawes and Gouldstone added nineteen before Mark Smith (3-34) returned to the attack to remove Hawes, Gouldstone and Stephens as the last three wickets fell for five runs and the innings petered out on one hundred and eighty-seven to give the Rams a massive win.

Elsewhere in the EAPL two of the fancied sides met at Swardeston where Copdock triumphed by five wickets with three balls to spare in a five hundred and sixty run thriller. Horsford got their title challenge underway with a win against Frinton, who were handily placed at one stage to cause an upset. Bury won a nail biter at home to AB Wanderers. New boys Downham Stow and in particular Witchingham returnee Brett Stolworthy enjoyed his quick return to his former home as the new boys got their first EAPL win under there belts as the got home by the barest of margins (three runs). The surprise of the day, certainly on last year’s form) came in the Suffolk derby as Sudbury visited Mildenhall and came away with a five wicket win.

The Rams second string started their Oynx Premier League season with a tricky looking trip to former EAPL side Wisbech who had done the double over the Rams last term. The Rams under former first team skipper Dan Heath won the toss and decided to bowl. This decision was initially well justified as debutants Darcy Murphy and Tarun Mouli (1-31) picked up early wickets to leave the hosts on forty-one for two. However, the vastly experienced former Cambridgeshire pair of Gary Freear and James Williams then added ninety nine before Williams (39) , the current Cambridgeshire County Coach, was cruelly run out at the non- striker’s end. The visitors then struck three quick blows as first Jake Raven (1-53) and then Sean Ward (2-43) with two wickets in consecutive balls as the score slumped from one hundred and forty for two to one hundred and fifty-eight for six. The Rams new Australian overseas Murphy returned to remove Freear (108) not before the prolific Fenlander had crafted his sixty-third century. Ben Clilverd (1-26) capped an excellent spell to remove Josh Porter before Murphy added a third scalp in an excellent debut to finish with 3-24 from ten overs. The Wisbech innings finished after the maximum fifty overs on two hundred and two for nine

A decent run chase would be needed in order for the Rams to get their season underway with a win. With the visitors’ line up strengthened by the inclusion of first team regulars Clilverd and Yousuf Choudhary skipper Heath was confident of a win. The Rams with Choudhary opening with Julius Jackson raced to fifty without loss at almost a run a ball. Choudhary in excellent nick following a winter away in Lahore then raced to his personal half century (53 balls) before the openers shared a century stand (115 balls). At drinks the Rams had motored along to one hundred and forty-two without loss. The pair survived the drinks break before Jackson added a single to take himself to fifty off eighty-one balls. The pairs next milestones was the one hundred and fifty (off 168 balls) before Choudhary completed an excellent century off just one hundred and three deliveries. The partnership went into the two hundreds at very nearly a run a ball (207 balls) before Choudhary hit the winning boundary to finish unbeaten on one hundred and twenty-five (118 balls, 18 x 4 and three maximums) as the Rams got home by ten wickets. Jackson finished with a superb unbeaten fifty-eight (from 97 balls) as the Rams claimed an astonishing ten wicket win.