The Rams pinning their hopes on lucky thirteen
For the second week running the SBCC fourth team are the first of our sides to register a win, this time around their opposition Birchanger have notified us in plenty of time that they are unable to raise a side. Two successive concessions have lifted the fourths dangerously high up the table!
The first team face high scoring AB Wanderers in the last red ball game of the season, I know I said it was the last one last week, but Cindy has since corrected my inaccuracy. The visitors who hail from just north of Wroxham have twice registered scores of over four hundred this season, to eclipse our own record EAPL score. To make matters worse they also registered their only victory over the Rams in the reverse fixture in May; winning by twenty-eight runs in a low scoring fifty-over game. That proved to be a bit of a watershed moment for the Rams as since that day the Rams have enjoyed an unbeaten run of twelve league and cup games.
In the ranks of the opposition there are two 2026 double centurions, their overseas Jayden Draper and Jersey international Zak Tribe. These two unsurprisingly sit third and fifth in the AVL EAPL top scorers list; the Rams have Callum Guest, Ben Claydon and Ethan Rice at sixth, ninth and tenth respectively. Joe Everett leads the way with the ball for the visitors but with only nineteen wickets; the Rams have Claydon, James Sykes and Jack Beaumont all ahead of the Norfolk paceman. Last year Sawston posted a three hundred plus score but AB Wanderers held out for a draw in the long format.
The Rams once again only make one change, with our cup hero Dan Andrew returning to replace the absent James Sykes. The ‘thin’ Rams’ squad should be commended for their outstanding availability this year!
It could prove a decisive week in the title AVL EAPL chase with the top two Horsford and Copdock with winnable home games against Sudbury and Witham respectively; and two of the top five meeting at Mildenhall who host Swardeston. This could give the top two a cushion over the chasing pack and make it difficult to see anyone overtaking either of them. Elsewhere Ramsey look to make it three on the trot away at Frinton. Bury will want to avoid a fourth successive defeat when they entertain Downham Stow.
With the second team already resigned to their fate the selection committee has adopted a balanced view in order to give the thirds a fighting chance of avoiding the drop. The seconds face a daunting trip to Foxton who top the Onyx Premier One division and who made light work of title pretenders Saffron Walden on Saturday. With two high-quality spinners awaiting the two’s they should probably expect a very dry surface when they make the short trip. Their overseas Jonty Webb is seven ahead of all comers in the race to be the leagues’ top wicket taker with Lewys Hill in third. If I remember correctly, the seconds faced trial by spin in the reverse fixture! With the bat Adam Webster again leads the way for the Foxes with Johnny Atkinson, as usual, in good nick. This is also the Onyx Premier’s last red ball round of fixtures of the season. Sawston’s skipper Julius Jackson warmed up with a midweek century (121 no off just 50 balls).
The thirds have a home game at The Churchman Ground and face the only side below them in the table. Aspenden, Standon and Puckeridge have lost their last five, but like the Rams some of their defeats have been pretty close things. Neither side has a batter in the division’s top ten, although R Fitzgerald does have a ton to his name this season, which perhaps underlines why they both find themselves in the bottom two.