Rams largely survive the test
In a week where resources were severely stretched with our captains scrambling around for players the Club can be proud that it did field four sides; and be reasonably pleased with the results.
This is especially the case in the thirds and fourths who feel the full impact of poor availability not only from within their own ranks but from the consequential unavailability / late drop-outs from above. On Friday lunchtime there was a real possibility that we would have to forfeit the fourth team game. We then secured an agreement from the league that we could field some unregistered players, forfeit the points but still play the game. With a couple of eleventh-hour registrations and a couple of players off the CCA AP List and a few changing their plans we were astonishingly legitimately fielding all four sides! So firstly we should thank those who put themselves out, and especially those that gave up their personal games to ‘drive the bus’. Despite all of our many successes on the field it is really these efforts are what makes our Club so special.
It is only fitting therefore given those trials and tribulations that we start with our ‘junior sides’ this week. Somehow Jake Ellis and his depleted squad made it five on the bounce despite an obvious lack of senior batting talent. Going into the game this must have been a worry to the skipper. Despite these fears he won the toss and opted to bat at the Churchman Ground. Due to some fixture issues in this division they were playing Ickleton for the second week running. He may have regretted the decision at thirty-six for three with Friday signing Roshika Hannadige (13), Natarajan Chanderasekhar (one of the AP’s) and young protégé Dhrona all back in the hutch. However, three of his close season signings then helped to turn things around. Lakmal Fernando added a useful twenty-five with youngster Daniel Pretorious before adding another fifty-four runs with his long-time teammate Nuwan Athukorala (26 from 24 balls). Lakmal then teamed up with Arnav Wadekar, who has stepped up from the fourth team this year, and they added an unbeaten eighty-nine with the youngster just making it to his first senior half century (he has made a couple over the last two years for the Under-15’s) before the innings closed on two hundred and four for five. Wadekar’s fifty-one not out coming off just forty-nine balls. The skipper, would have perhaps liked another twenty-five runs; but, however, he was indebted to Lakmal, whose chances with the bat this year has been restricted, for his seventy-nine not out (from 88 balls) and his partnerships that added an invaluable one hundred and sixty-eight runs.
Despite the Ickleton skipper, and dangerman, Paul Andrews surviving an early drop the Rams made a couple of early breakthroughs as Ellis and Athukorala picked up wickets. The visitors had recovered from nineteen for two to seventy-four for two before SBCC took three wickets for fourteen runs. Dhrona (1-33) crucially dismissed Andrews (45 from 45), Yashitha Fernando (1-20) snared the other established batsman Tom Claydon (24) before Wadekar (1-12) joined the party. Ickleton tried to rebuild and they added a useful forty-two runs with the combination of Ian Curtis, Fraser Gillies and Nick Brown before Ellis (3-38) removed Curtis and Brown. Gillies (33 no from 48) continued to hang around but a run out preceded the last rites as Athukorala (3-9) returned to take the last two wickets with consecutive balls. The Rams winning by fifty-four runs to remain top. Buntingford another side with an unbeaten record , defeated Aspenden, Standon and Puckeridge to end their winning run.
The fourth team travelled to Girton and astonishingly are now top of Division Five after ending the home side’s unbeaten record. The home side were asked to bat first by SBCC skipper Dom Cameron. The set a challenging total of one hundred and sixty-four for six; thanks in the main to Robert Phillips (44), Antony Bright (37), and Simon Shanks (59 not out). Zane Dennington (2-31) again impressed with the ball but it was veteran Adrian Platt (3-15 from 8 overs) that did real damage to the middle order. Another of the youngsters Ben Latham (1-44) picked up a wicket with his first ball!; and the skipper bowled eight tight overs to restrict the damage. In reply Richard Molton (19) and the skipper (26) both got starts but it was Adarshpal Brar’s seventy-eight (off 72 balls) that got the Rams home to win by five wickets with six overs to spare. Ben Latham and new signing Giles Radford closed out the game despite two wickets for ex-Ram Dushyant Patel (2-30). The win must have been comfortable as the skipper did not need to unleash Albert ‘Half-a-job’ Summerlin with bat or ball!
The Rams travelled to Sudbury in a clash between the top two in the EAPL. The home side won the toss and knowing the quality of their wicket, and the small size of the ground, perhaps thinking that the only way to force a result was to chase. There was a fifteen-minute delay to the start, resulting from the overnight storms, and a reduction of overs by two in each innings. In a return to the blueprint that was so successful last year the ‘old firm’ of skipper Callum Guest and Wayne White set the tone. The pair added ninety-one (off 116 balls) before White (44 from 56) was caught and bowled by Sudbury’s overseas Manelkar De Silva (1-28). The home side’s hopes rose as Guest (53 off 71) followed, run out, just thirteen runs later. This optimism was quickly deflated as Nikhil Gorantla and Ben Claydon added fifty runs in just thirty-four balls and they took the Rams to lunch on one hundred and sixty-four for two. Having survived the curse of the break the pair brought up the two hundred before each moved to personal half centuries; Claydon from just forty-two balls and Gorantla from fifty-seven. The next milestone was the hundred partnership (off 88). Claydon was out seven runs later, off the bowling of Alex Quinn (1-45) having recorded his seventh fifty plus score in nine league games. Jack Beaumont followed just twenty-two runs later to give Ben Reece his first. This proved to be a short respite as Lee Thomason, enjoying the extra responsibility of being further up the order this year, joined Gorantla and they added a brisk fifty (off 36 deliveries). Gorantla, after making his first Rams fifty last week, then made it to three figures for the first time (from 95 balls) before the three hundred came up. The pair added a partnership ton (off 80 deliveries) as Thomason’s impressive run with the bat for SBCC and Cambridgeshire continued as he made it to fifty (off 47). Gorantla was bowled by Freddie Cloud (1-69) after scoring one hundred and twenty-one (from 112) and then Thomason was caught behind off Reece having made sixty-six, and bringing up three hundred league runs so far. Henry Wilson was caught off Reece (3-106) as the Rams looked for a final flurry to take them past their record EAPL score (396 off just 50 overs). In the end Ben Clilverd (15 no of 9) and Alex James (7 no off 5) got the Rams to three hundred and eighty-six.
The Suffolk outfit have been scoring runs for fun this year and the top four have scored nine centuries between them. Any, very slim hopes, of an exciting chase disappeared as Mark Smith picked up two of the centurions Darren Batch and Ned Overbury both caught behind with only thirty-three on the board. Skipper Adam Jones and overseas De Silva had moved the score onto sixty-four when Claydon (1-31) removed the latter. The Rams hopes of bowling out the home side on a slow flat deck would also be severely hampered by the absence of James Vandepeer; and a lack of deterioration in the second innings. Quinn (28 from 53) then joined the skipper and they added sixty-two for the fourth wicket before White picked up his first. One hundred and twenty-six for three became one hundred and sixty-two for six as Beaumont (1-37) trapped East and Smith (3-68) returned to remove Reece. The Rams optimism was snuffed out as Jones found James Poulson a determined ally. White (2-17) then returned to dismiss Jones, who was just eighteen runs shy of his fifth league ton of the year. His stubborn knock of one hundred and eleven balls was matched by Paulson, who did a similar job last year, as he finished unbeaten on thirty-six (off 51) and the innings closed on two hundred and nine for seven. The Rams having to be content with seven more bonus points than the home side to increase their lead at the top to nineteen points.
There was a seven hundred run classic at the Common where Swardeston chased down third-placed Horsford’s imposing total. Bury’s impressive chase saw them win at Downham Stow. Mildenhall led by KC Cariappa’s seven wicket haul demolished Witchingham. Frinton were comfortable winners at home to AB Wanderers, the bottom sides’ woes were deepened by the wins for Mildenhall and Swardeston. Raj Singh had the opportunity to perform his third last over heroics was thwarted by Witham’s skipper as the Essex side held on nine down in an unusually low scoring match at Copdock.
The second team’s poor run continued but they would have been heartened by a much better performance with the bat. They posted two hundred and forty-six all out led by Miguel Machado’s ton (118 from 149 deliveries). He added one hundred and thirty-six with Charlie Lewis (54 from 113) and fifty-nine with skipper Dan Heath (23 from 38). The Rams lost Machado and Heath at the wrong time and one hundred and ninety-seven for two fizzled out to two hundred and forty-six all out as the new batsman tried to up the ante. Joseph Gunn-Roberts 4-54 and Andrew Gale 2-51 were the most successful with Charlie Gale and Andrew Salvesen each picking up one; two run-outs completed the late carnage!
Mitchell Harrison (93 no from 121) anchored the reply with support from Salvesen(30 from 40) and Andrew Gale (43 from 66) before Richard Bramley (71 from 45) sealed the deal as Old Leysians came out on top in the battle between the bottom two. Sean Ward; Machado, Tarun Mouli and Jake Raven all picked up solitary wickets. The Rams although bottom are still within touching distance of the bottom four and know that the second half of the season will see them strengthen, particularly if injuries clear up.
There were wins for our unbeaten and table topping Midweek side and U-13b sides as well as our U-11 side. Despite another unbeaten half century from Ethan Hayes-Fernandez our U-15 Premier side lost to St Giles and slip to third.
A very young fourth eleven faced a tough task when visiting Cambridge Tamil Sangam in the Lower Junior Cup on Sunday. The Cambridge side are from two division higher. They won the toss and batted posting an imposing one hundred and seventy-five in their twenty overs. Youngsters Alex Myles 1-17 off four overs and Vivaan Kilaru 1-9 off two (with 7 wides!) deserve credit. In reply the Rams finished seventy runs short despite twenty-seven from Joel Dennington and twenty-eight from Kilaru. So as they say they can now fully concentrate on the league!
Finally a plea to all of our players, despite our unprecedented level of success over the last twenty years and particularly over the last six years you shouldn’t take success for granted. We have some great opportunities to win more silverware this year, and believe me you have to take those chances when they arise as they are not guaranteed to continue. So if you want to win titles take the opportunities in front of you and make your skipper’s lives even more difficult by making yourselves available when possible.