The Rams looking for a fresh start…

After last weekend’s gentle introduction to the season the Club moves into second gear as we have three fixtures. The first team visit Frinton on Saturday, host Billericay on Sunday whilst the third team get underway at Babraham against Old Monks II’s.

The Rams make the trip to the seaside with both sides looking to break their premier league ducks this campaign. Early season form is often quite difficult to read as sides attempt to bed in new faces. This is especially true in Frinton’s case as their defeat came at the hands of Bury; they both finished in the bottom three last term but Bury, in recent seasons, have generally got off to a flyer. Looking at the team that lost by one hundred and seventeen runs at Bury there seems to be a couple of new recruits from Maldon (Finlay Jones and Danny Edwards) that supplemented a few established regulars (Hamad Arshad, Kyran Young, Michael Comber). The other notable recruits were Nico Boje (formerly of Copdock) and someone called Mark Smith; the name is familiar but I cannot quite place him! The remainder of the squad last week was made up of a number of players looking to establish themselves after breaking into the first eleven last season. The Seasiders have an excellent relationship with Essex and we believe that two of the County’s quicks, Charlie Bennett and Mackenzie Jones are still with Frinton but they have lost both Benkenstein’s and keeper-batter Ronnie McKenna. With Essex away at the Oval we may have to wait until Saturday to discover the strength of the opposition.

Rams skipper Callum Guest will be hoping that his side can add the ten percent to every aspect of last week’s performance that he felt was missing last week. He is however forced into some changes with school teachers Wayne White and Jack Beaumont missing. Impressive debutant Ralph Hayward who hit back-to-back fifties for the Rams and Cambridgeshire last weekend is another absentee. He will once again be hoping that Ben Claydon can carry on where he left off last week; and last season. The changes will give himself, Lee Thomason, Ethan Rice and Ben Clilverd more opportunities to get their seasons underway. He brings in Dylan Hardy for his debut; and Miguel Machado steps up from the second team,  they have to wait until next week for their first game.

Third team skipper Jake Ellis will have the luxury of being able to pick from almost all of the second to fourth team squads. In common with the last few years he is likely to give youth its head with teenagers Dhrona, Dan Pretorious, Arnav Wadekar joining the slightly more mature Arya Saeb-Parsy and keeper Torin Phelps. Second team vice-captain Julius Jackson is hoping for a game as a reward for painting one of the sight-screens! The opposition are the second string of one of the County’s rapidly developing Clubs. They have been rewarded for winning CCA Junior 3s by being ‘bumped’ up to Junior 1s for this year. The Rams will be delighted to know that The Old Monks 1st XI is also in action this week.

On Sunday the Rams meet another side from Essex when they host Billericay in the National Club Championship. This marks a return to this quirky forty over competition for the Rams; for the last couple of seasons we haven’t entered since the majority of the side have been on Cambridgeshire duty. Skipper Callum Guest and Wayne White are not playing white / pink ball cricket for Cambs this summer. The side is likely to be a mix of first and second team players. The competition usually attracts some very good sides but it can be a bit of a lottery  depending on minor counties and sometimes first-class fixtures and commitments. Billericay are a strong club side with six senior Saturday sides, a Veteran’s team, two Women’s elevens and about a dozen Junior teams! They were unfortunately relegated from the Essex Premier League las season. Last year they were drawn against Horsford in this competition and went down to a narrow defeat with just six balls left so they are likely to be a test. They warmed up with a comfortable win against Westcliff on Sea in a pre-season friendly that saw wickets and runs shared by a few. On Saturday they have another Cup game at home to Bentley in the Essex League Cup.