A challenging weekend ahead...

The firsts visit Witham where an Essex CC inspired performance saw them defeated for the first time ever in Essex last season. . One of Witham’s heroes that day Jamal Richards is still in their squad despite his release from the County.  Witham had a great year in 2025 to finish just behind the top three in fourth. After a couple of defeats at the hands of Bury and Swardeston they got their season underway with a win at Sudbury. Their bowling will be spearheaded once again by returning overseas Sam Greer, with the ever dangerous Greg Stephens leading the spinners. Stephens finished fourth in the ladder to be the EAPL leading wicket-taker in 2025; and boasts an incredible six hundred and fourteen career scalps on play-cricket.com. Greer and Stephens will be backed up by the all-rounders Richards and ex-skipper Jake Wakelin. The impressive Matt Waring is missing from last year’s attack. With the bat they will be expecting Harrison McDonald to kick on after his breakthrough season last term and the reliable pair of skipper Michael Godwin and Chris Huntington to once again provide solid runs. The Rams will also hope that ex-Ram Noah Thain will have had his quota of cricket for this week as he captained Essex II’s in a three day game following a fifty for the first team and a hundred for the seconds in the week before.

The first team are expected to make at least one change from last week’s side with Jack Beaumont on school duties; Dylan Hardy is expected to return to the squad. The skipper Callum Guest has challenged himself and the other batsmen to take their games up a notch and for at least one of them to make a match winning contribution. He will be delighted if the bowling unit maintain their game at the levels of the last couple of weeks. Our own left arm spinner James Sykes is level pegging with Stephens in joint fifth place with six wickets apiece in the EAPL. Last year the Rams evened up the head-to-head in an excellent fifty over performance. First teamer Ethan Rice’s excellent week continued after top scoring for the Rams last week he picked up three wickets for Kent II’s in a T20 warm up game against Notts II’s.

In the AVL EAPL one unwanted one hundred percent record must go as Frinton host Downham Stow with both sides looking for a first win of 2026. At the top Copdock host winless Sudbury; Horsford are at home to Swardeston, and Mildenhall face EAPL new boys Ramsey as all three hope to maintain their perfect starts. Bury face the record breaking AB Wanderers with a certain amount of trepidation!

The second team make their home debut for 2026 but in the unfamiliar setting of the Churchman Ground at Babraham; Spicers is hosting the Sawston Fun run on Sunday and therefore all the preparation work needs to be done on Saturday. With Dan Barnes away it is still likely that Vibhor Yadav and Shiv Darbar will make their home debuts. Both the Rams and their opponents will be looking to break their 2026 duck; the home side losing away at Wisbech whilst their opponents were well beaten by Newmarket. St. Giles have lost their skipper Sam Thain to Old Leysians but based on last week’s side still have the core of their 2025 side. They were probably disappointed to finish seventh just one place above the Rams in last year’s Onyx One. It could be familiar territory for ex-Ram Martin Heginbotham who played for a number of years for the Club including numerous outings for the Midweek eleven at Babraham.

The thirds visit Rickling who have proven to be a bit of a nemesis for Jake Ellis’ side over the last couple of seasons. Despite winning ten of their fifteen games last year and finishing second in the table they have been allowed to stay in Division 1s! The Rams will hope that the prolific Josh Monk will be absent! The home side are one of five unbeaten sides in Junior 1s having thumped Aspenden, Standon and Puckeridge by almost one hundred and fifty runs last week. That man Monk with one hundred and sixty-eight was literally the difference; but they are not a one man team and possess a number of options with bat and ball. The Rams will be forced into a number of changes with schools cricket taking centre stage for some and a three week concussion absence for last week’s top scorer Dhrona. The thirds will hope for a much needed victory after last week’s dramatic last ball loss.

The fourth team will be leaving no stone unturned in their search for a team with resources stretched in the sides above. They too will be looking for a  first victory when they make the short trip to Fulbourn in Junior 4s. They will want to build on last week’s encouraging first-day display; and will hope not to be as generous with the extra balls this week. Opponents Fulbourn II’s have yet to start this term and like the Rams find themselves in a new league in 2026; having moved sideways from Division 4W where they finished mid-table. The Rams may have their new dad and lad pairing of Faheem and Muhammed hoping that they can once again excel following superb debuts. Skipper Dom Cameron will be wishing  that the other bowlers reach the heights that Alex Myles and Adrian Platt achieved last week.