The Rams have another full programme on Saturday

The first’s welcome back former Ram Mark Smith and his Frinton teammates for the AVL EAPL clash; Smudge and his new side have so far endured a pretty miserable season so far. They remain winless and are forty-seven points adrift at the bottom of the table. A look at the stats show that they have been reliant on their overseas Hanu Viljeon (462 runs at 46.20) and former Copdock man Nico Boje (326 @ 29.6); with Smudge averaging twenty-seven thanks to a large number of red-inkers! A 2026 new signing Saad Bin Yousuf leads the way with the ball but he has only twelve league wickets with Smith second on seven. With the Rams in decent form you’d think we were a shoe-in for a win and a possible maximum points haul. That would be a mistake with Frinton’s links with Essex and their propensity to pull a selection rabbit out of the hat. The Rams will be pretty much at full strength. Our top two with the bat skipper Callum Guest and Ben Claydon both average north of forty; and both should be relaxed following a short holiday in the sun. James Sykes’s purple patch means he joins Claydon in the leagues’ top ten wicket-takers. In the reverse fixture SBCC won the pink ball game comfortably.

Elsewhere in the AVL EAPL the unbeaten leaders Horsford have a Norfolk derby at Downham Stow; second placed Swardeston will want to make it six in a row against Sudbury. Copdock visit red-ball strugglers Ramsey and fourth placed Mildenhall travel to AB Wanderers, probably not knowing what to expect. Bury will want to make it back-to-back wins when they entertain Witham.

The second team visit St. Giles and their new Pavilion at Solway. The home side hit the summit of the Onyx Premier briefly but two consecutive defeats has left them in third. Zaheer Hussain leads the way with the bat (392 @ 56) with Vansh Bajaj a dangerous proposition when he plays. Ashok Singh is second in the division’s bowling, with support from Bajaj and the dependable Chris Germon. The seconds are missing a couple of their more experienced players but in line with their newly adopted model place their trust in their excellent crop of youngsters. Some of the side put the disappointment of a winless Saturday campaign behind them when, on Wednesday night, they made it through to the Midweek Cup final. Teenager Henry Cotton starred in the win with a superb and mature innings. Interestingly the win means a Final against Linton and a game against the Rams Saturday skipper Julius Jackson.  Dan Barnes will be looking to build on last week’s innings and all the youngsters will be looking to build their experience.

The thirds have another tough test against Rickling Ramblers a side that won the division last year but stayed in the same league and are currently second behind last week’s opponents Old Monks. Talking of Monks; the Ramblers top batsman is again Josh Monk who is once again averaging over a hundred! They also have Rob Love-Halls and Kye Brown in the top ten wicket takers in Division 1s. Our own skipper Jake Ellis features in the top five of both the batting and bowling. He will want support from his experienced teammates and contributions from his band of promising youngsters; including third team debutant Nathanael Vice.

The fourths make a very short journey to Newton in Division 4s; who have won their last two matches. The host’s Sam Absolom is leading the way with the bat, fourth in the Division’s standings, and bowlers Tom Lewis and Richard Naseby are joint twelfth on the bowling ladder. Adrain Platt still leads the Division 4s bowling ladder but misses out this week. The Rams won a thriller earlier on in the season when they won by four runs.

Finally, this week I was subjected to some harsh criticism, in my view, on the standard of my musings along with the threat of one-sided financial penalties, in the form of large glasses of Rosé, if they didn’t improve. In my defence as a lad born in Yeeerkshire and an accountant I thought I was doing really well considering English is not my first language and numbers are my game! The financial threat is almost unbearable to a lad from Barnsley!