What a scorcher!!
The Rams extended their league at the top of EAPL 25 to thirty-seven points as we reach the half way point in the season. They once again enjoyed their trip to the Essex coast as they defeated Frinton by five wickets in a game where both sides were missing a few regulars.
The home side won the toss and on a very warm day unsurprisingly decided to bat. Their 2025 new opening pair Hamad Arshad and Australian Jayden Goodwin have enjoyed some useful partnerships so far this term. However, with the ball hooping around Ben Claydon , a stand-in opening bowler in the absence of James Vandepeer, soon had them in all kinds of trouble. In his first five overs he had sent both openers and Ronnie McKenna back to the Pavilion with only twenty-nine on the board. The home side dug in as the experienced Kyran Young was joined by Fraser Waller who has been given his opportunity this year following some excellent performances for Frinton’s third team in 2024. They managed to take the score to fifty at the end of the twentieth. However, the Rams struck two more crucial blows as Ben Clilverd (1-48), bowling with good pace and excellent control enticed a loose stroke from Waller (21 from 31 balls) and then Wayne White got Young (24 from 79) to play on as two wickets fell for just six runs to leave the hosts on sixty-six for five. Indeed, things could have been even more serious had Frinton skipper Michael Comber not survived a close decision on his first ball.
It was imperative that the new pair at the crease could survive the half a dozen or so overs to take the hosts into lunch five down. With the ball still nipping around the Sawston skipper, Callum Guest, rejected the usual tactic of sneaking in a few overs of spin just before lunch, to bring back his ‘pace’ spearhead Claydon. This paid dividends as Claydon (4-59) trapped Farrance, another youngster making his way in his first EAPL campaign, to leave the home side on ninety-five for six (off 33 overs) at lunch. After lunch and perhaps recognising that his side had, statistically at least, a long tail decided that attack was the best form of defence. With Matthew Heighes providing an excellent foil for his skipper’s aggression the pair combined for a fifty partnership (from just 33 deliveries)before Comber made it to his personal half century (from 47 balls). With Comber on fifty-seven he went for another big hit off his fiftieth delivery but he could only find, Rams first team debutant, Jaykishan Plaha, in the deep as White picked up a second. At one hundred and forty-one for seven spin was finally introduced in the thirty-eighth over as Tarun Mouli turned his arm over for the first time. Bowling in partnership with White they offered very little encouragement to the home side’s tail as Max Dias and Heighes could only add seventeen runs in fifty-one deliveries. Mouli then trapped Dias (4 from 27) and then Safi Oriakhial (4 from 8) to pick up his second wicket (2-13) in another impressive and controlled spell. White (3-20) then ended the innings on one hundred and sixty-seven when he bowled, with a perfect yorker, the Frinton number eleven.
The Rams reply got off to a flyer as sixty-runs came off the first ten overs, but unfortunately they had lost three wickets; White (18 from 16), Guest (38 off 26) and Gorantla in the process. White playing on to Jilal Pervez (2-38) and Guest on the receiving end of a ‘beauty’ from the same bowler before Gorantla was ‘strangled’ down the leg side off Dias. When Choudhary (12 from 12) followed steering a wide one from Dias (2-29 off three overs) to slip the Rams had added a further twenty-two off just thirteen balls. At this point you could have been forgiven for thinking that the Cambridgeshire boys were getting in some T20 practice for the Lincolnshire games on Sunday. When Claydon offered a ‘soft’ caught and bowled to Goodwin (1-29) with the Rams on one hundred for five in the sixteenth and despite Ethan Rice’s, welcome, return with perhaps a slightly longer tail than normal the game was in the balance. However, Lee Thomason was again the man for a ‘crisis’ albeit a less serious crisis than the one where he arrived at the crease, at the same venue last September, with the Rams ten for three and needing over two hundred more to clinch the title. Like last week he found an excellent ally in Clilverd. This time however Clilverd stuck around to the end as the pair added an unbeaten sixty-eight in a calm and largely drama free partnership. Thomason added another thirty-seven runs (from 52 balls) to his collection and Clilverd made the most of the opportunity to finish unbeaten on thirty-eight (off 59 deliveries).
Elsewhere an amazing ton from Jonah Wicks saw Gt. Witchingham to what was looking like an unlikely victory for the early part of the innings at Sudbury where the Witches chased almost three hundred; as Sudbury sliipped to third. There were pre-tea finishes at Downham where the inform Horsford thrashed their Norfolk rivals to move into second behind the Rams; the other early finish saw Copdock pile the pressure on the still winless AB Wanderers. Mildenhall came out on top in the basement battle at Swardeston which was further bad news for bottom side AB Wanderers; the side from the Norfolk Broads are now forty-five points adrift at the bottom. Witham, without any Essex players, scored a massive victory at home to Bury and move into fifth.
The second team although keen to follow up on last week’s win over the league leaders were again forced into a number of personnel changes as youngsters Dhrona (U-13), Ethan Hayes-Fernandez and Arnav Wadekar (both U-15) were called up , they were joined by third teamers Torin Phelps and Geo Varghese. Perhaps not ideal when you were up against local rivals and reigning National Village Cup champions Foxton Granta. Foxton won the toss and probably cognisant of the Rams batting and the young line up the Foxes gave the Rams the first use of the wicket.
In contrasting styles Charlie Lewis and Julius Jackson added exactly fifty for the first wicket. Jackson was then dismissed by Henry Campbell; returning to the Ground where he enjoyed so much success in the earlier part of his career in partnership with Mark Smith. Lewis then formed another useful partnership with Miguel Machado as they added sixty-two runs (off 137 balls) before Ash Clark had Lewis caught behind (75 off 105 balls) with the score on one hundred and twelve. Machado then added twenty-six runs with skipper Dan Heath. ‘Henners’ (2-52) then removed Machado (47 from 88), before Clark (2-37) dismissed Dhrona and Sam Beer (1-53) accounted for the skipper. The Rams had lost three wickets for just seventeen runs and at one hundred and fifty-five for five were fearing another ‘house of cards’ collapse!
However Rams’ overseas Darcy Murphy and Sean Ward, who has scored a few important runs down the order over the last few years, batted positively to add and unbeaten seventy-six from just sixty-four balls. Murphy finished just one shy of his first Rams’ fifty (off 40 balls, 2 x4 and three maximums); his partner, Ward, finished on twenty-six (from 27) as the home side posted a respectable two hundred and thirty-one for five.
The Rams made the perfect start when Machado bowled the prolific Adam Webster with just twenty-three on the board. Clark joined keeper Freddie Doel at the crease and the pair steered the Foxes to sixty-seven for one. Murphy then removed Clark and Harry Hopwood as the reply staggered briefly to eighty-seven for three. This brought another prolific batsman to the crease in the form of Foxton captain and Rams’ nemesis Johnny Atkinson in a situation almost tailored to Atkinson’s ‘MO’.
Atkinson and Doel had taken the score to one hundred and fifty-nine; with the opener just making it to a maiden one hundred when Machado (2-40) picked up a second. The run rate had increase but by less than half a run per over and with Atkinson, a master timer of run chases, at the crease the visitors were still in the box seat. However Geo Varghese then picked up his first ever Onyx Premier wicket when he trapped Atkinson leg before just two runs later. George Demetriou Foale and the vastly experienced Richard Kaufman then added twenty- five runs (from 38 balls) before Ward (1-54) bowled the former. Max Sargentina followed five runs later as Jackson picked up a wicket to leave the visitors on one hundred and ninety-one for seven. This was brave from the bowler and skipper as Jackson had gone for twenty-four in his first two overs before being pulled from the attack.
Although the Foxes were seven down and still required forty-three from forty-six balls they were still marginal favourites with Kaufman, a centurion at Lords in the Foxes 2024 Village Cup win, at the crease. Kaufman turned the screw with a six from the first ball of the over, however, Varghese (2-46) added another notable scalp to his c.v. when he had Kaufman (30 from 39) caught by Jackson. With the score on two hundred and nine for eight. Would the visitors stick or twist? Twenty-three runs required from twenty-one balls with the Rams needing two wickets.
The Foxes had been involved in three recent games where one side or the other had batted out nine down to save the game so it was familiar territory for them. It is also fairly familiar territory for Rams’ fans as they ‘like’ a last over thriller. The Foxes scored five runs of the remaining four balls of Varghese over. Skipper Heath went with Jackson for the fiftieth over and he was rewarded by the spinner dismissing Beer for his second wicket (2-28). Jackson dismissing any type of beer is unusual in itself! Murphy (3-23) was entrusted with the penultimate over and he capped a fine day by trapping Cameron Ryall with his fifth ball; as the Rams recorded back-to-back wins for the first time this season. Skipper Heath was delighted with the win, and the more complete performance especially given the trials and tribulations of getting a side out but was honest in the assessment that they had had the better of the conditions. A baking hot week and no roller wasn’t the best of combinations for getting the used wicket ready. The win lifted the Rams up a place, to ninth, and a twenty-one-point cushion from the relegation places.
The third team who were also missing a few of their senior players as well as the ones that stepped up into the Ii’s face the only unbeaten side in the division when they entertained Buntingford, who not so long ago were a very competitive senior league side. Despite missing some of his batting talent the skipper, Jake Ellis, won the toss and decided to bat on a blazing afternoon. Regular opener Wes Potschul (25 from 19) got the innings off to a bright start partnered by an AP player, Sanish Gopalan (father of Dhrona), as they added thirty-three for the first wicket. Sanish (35 from 43); Adarshpal Brar(22 from 17) promoted from the fourths; and Nuwan Athukorala (17 from 32) all got starts but at one hundred and twenty-nine for six the innings was well short of a challenging total. The midweek skipper Ollie Humphreys (43 from 57) and Ellis (46 no from 39) then gave the innings some impetus as they added seventy-four for the seventh wicket. Jon Windsor with a breezy thirteen (from 11) saw the Rams to two hundred and twenty-two. Perhaps a little shy of what the skipper would have wanted with a full squad but it represented a challenge. Greg Garner with four wickets (4-32) was the most successful but there was a wicket each for Coote, Hassan, Ricketts, and Ebad.
The Buntingford reply was indebted to two batsman Alex West, who the Ram’s unfortunately dropped twice, and Syed Hassan. West (78 from 99 balls) dominated the early proceedings getting the visitors to one hundred and forty-three for three when he was bowled by Athukorala (1-33); with Windsor (2-48) accounting for Ollie Townsend and George Coote . Unfortunately for the Rams Hassan took over where West had left. He dominated a forty-eight-run partnership with Tommy Faherty (17 from 25). Despite Hassan’s efforts the required rate began to climb. The thirty-eighth over, including a six for Hassan went for fifteen at this eased the pressure. Youngster Vivaan Kilaru (1-25) held his nerve in the penultimate over to dismiss Hassan (71 from 55) to leave the visitors on two hundred and nine for five still requiring fourteen runs from nine balls and two new batters at the crease. Babraham is always a difficult place to defend runs with its big boundaries and is especially difficult when the fast outfield is as parched as it is now. Kilaru left Athukorala with seven to defend but unfortunately the unbeaten Buntingford got over the line with one ball to spare. See I told you watching the Rams needs a health warning!
There was better news for the Rams on Sunday, as the Club’s most successful CCA captain took another side to a CCA finals day; this time in the Walker Cup a trophy he lifted in 2023. The Rams travelled into Cambridge to face NCI II’s. Ellis won the toss and elected to bat. Dan Heath then hit his first century for the Rams with his one hundred and four not out coming off just sixty-four balls in this T20 match. Niall Barber (23 from 39) and youngster Daniel Pretorius (14 from 17) ensured the Rams posted a decent one hundred and sixty for two.
Despite Yash Verma (51 from 48 balls); and decent knocks from Kaleem Chattha (32 from 20) and Minhaz Miah (28 from 19) the Rams led from the front by Ellis (2-20) with decent spells from Humphreys (1-22) and Murphy (1-28) managed to restrict the home side to just one hundred and forty-eight. Heath also managed to take 1 - 13 (2)
The fourth team suffered in the hot sun as Wilbraham’s rattled up two hundred and fifty-eight for five in the scorching sun at Wilbraham. The Rams wilted in reply only making it to one hundred and twenty-three. Again with the availability issues it was a major success in getting a fourth team out.
It was a mixed bag of results in the Junior section this week, with one win and their first defeat for our table topping under-11 Girls. The Under 13B boys won and continue to top their ladder. Both U15 teams tasted defeat to sides that leapfrogged then to the top of the divisions, the Under 15C’s lost to Thriplow, whilst the Under-15 Premiers lost to City of Cambridge. Once again there were some excellent individual performances, including:
Ethan Hayes Fernandez 50 rtno
Ferdie Piper 50 rtno
Dhrona 30 rtno
Nathaneal Vice 33 rtno
Joel Jordan 30 rtno