From the sublime to the ridiculous

On Saturday Sawston and Babraham visited the picturesque surroundings of Stow Hall, where the home side Downham Stow won the toss and decided to bowl. Despite it being another belter of a day the home side were hoping to exploit the, slightly green, surface to pick up early wickets. In the end partly due to some wayward bowling they had to wait until the eighth over before Ralph Hayward (18 off 26 balls) lost patience and was caught behind off Brett Stolworthy (1-29). The Rams’ skipper Callum Guest was joined by Ethan Rice and the pair added another fifty-run partnership to their growing collection, this one arriving from just sixty-three deliveries. Three figures were reached at the end of the twentieth. The half-way point arrived at drinks with the Rams on one hundred and twenty for one. With wickets in hand the batting unit were targeting a score of around two hundred and eighty. Guest (50 off 79) moved to another half-century but was deceived by an Owen Stacey (1-59) delivery just two runs after drinks. Stacey was only playing as an eleventh-hour replacement for Adam Todd who had been injured in the warm up. Ben Claydon joined Rice and they too added a fifty partnership at nearly a run a ball. Sixteen runs later Claydon (30 off 33) skied an attempted pull shot off the Downham overseas Dan Cooke (1-86) and was caught. This brought Jack Beaumont to the crease and he added a bright and breezy twenty-seven (off 19) before he was bowled by Jamie Cook (1-44) attempting another expansive shot. The loss of Beaumont brought Lee Thomason, for his first hit in about six weeks,  to the crease with just fifty-seven balls remaining. With two hundred and eighteen runs on the board the two eighty was looking on. Thomason dominated a fifty stand with Rice as they reached the milestone of just thirty-six balls.  The right hander keeper-batter showing power and finesse as he raced to his own fifty (off just 28 balls). Rice then made it to his second century of the campaign (off 103 balls) as the three hundred total was passed. The calm and measured innings was supplemented by some big hits, particularly later in his knock. Thomason (68 from 37) fell to the last ball of the innings bowled by Norfolk’s Arthur Wilcox (1-74) as Rice remained unbowed (116 no from 108); as the innings closed on an imposing three hundred and thirty.

That was sounding impressive until news of Mildenhall’s massive, and almost unbelievable, five hundred and fifty-one at Sudbury!

The home side’s reply started brightly as Finlay Wilcox and Cooke raced to thirty-three for none off just twenty-seven balls). However the Rams applied the breaks by taking three wickets for eight runs in the next thirteen balls. Ben Clilverd first had Wilcox (20 off 14) caught in the deep by Guest before bowling his brother Ben. In between Raj Singh (1-33) had Cooke caught behind with a lovely delivery. With the score on fifty-five Clilverd added a third when Patrick Yates mistimed a shot to offer a catch to Singh. Clilverd (4-49) picked up his fourth when he trapped Arthur Wilcox in front with the score on eighty. Freddie Fairey was joined at the crease by Josh Bowers and the pair took the home side to drinks, which came in the nineteenth over due to a back injury to one of the umpires who was subbed!. The home side then made it to three figures at the end of the twenty-third.  Fairey went on to a defiant half century (from 59 balls) just before the fifty-stand came up (from 70 balls). Beaumont (1-50) ended the partnership when Bowers (33 from 45)  was dismissed leg before with the score on one hundred and sixty-two. Stacey followed just fifteen runs later caught in the deep off Rice (1-29).  Fairey’s innings (81 off 91) was ended by another leg before decision this time James Sykes (1-38) picking up the wicket with the home side just two runs short of two hundred. The Rams leading wicket-taker in the 2026 campaign then took the last two wickets to dismiss Stolworthy and Cook; the latter to an excellent catch by Sykes. The home side finished on a respectable two hundred and thirteen as the Rams won by one hundred and seventeen runs to take their unbeaten run to fourteen.

Elsewhere in the AVL EAPL it was a case of the sublime and the ridiculous! As I mentioned earlier Mildenhall racked up an astonishing five hundred and fifty-one before defeating their hosts by four hundred and nineteen. Both new EAPL records. The ‘match of the day’ was scheduled at Copdock where the top two met. Copdock inflicting a damaging defeat to leapfrog their title rivals to lead the pack. In a strange match at Copdock, which is usually a road, the home side bowled out their Norfolk rivals, Horsford,  for a paltry sixty-six but found themselves five down in their successful chase. Swardeston beat an improved Frinton. The table sees Copdock top, with Horsford and the Rams (in a season’s best position) joint second sixteen points adrift and with Swardeston just a point further back. Mildenhall despite their win are forty-two points adrift of the leaders and crucially at least one game behind the others in the top four. Ramsey’s impressive form continued as they defeated Bury and AB Wanderers had a day to forget at Witham to complete week seventeen.

The second team had an afternoon with the ball to forget as Southill Park put them to the sword in the Onyx Premier league. The visitors posted a mammoth four hundred and forty-eight for five. Hitesh Chauhan with one hundred and eighty (from 123) ; Edward Lamb was another centurion (128 no off 108) and fifty-six (off 40 balls) from opener Ajay Momi provided the bulk of the runs. Zane Dennington emerged with credit after picking up three wickets (3-50) as Geo Varghese (1-48) and skipper Julius Jackson (1-58) picked up the other wickets.

In reply the Rams were in the hunt in the first twenty overs of their innings as Jackson (84 from 54) and Oli Humphreys (45 from 51) took the home side to one hundred and fifty-five for two after twenty overs. After this only Zach Wimslow was able to offer any further resistance with twenty-five (off 23) as the innings subsided to two hundred all out. The unfortunate Max Boxall was unable to bat following a serious shoulder injury sustained in the field. Sami Younis (4-31) and Shaylen Tomlinson-Patel (3-25) did most of the damage for the side from Bedfordshire.

The third team won their third game in the last four as they seek to maintain their status in Junior One South. The visitors Birchanger won the toss and opted to bowl at The Churchman Ground. Home skipper Jake Ellis (43) got the Rams off to a decent start. Ari Sen (26)  added useful runs to take the Rams into three figures. The Rams however needed excellent knocks from Etienne Lamb (42) and keeper Torin Phelps (48 no) to take the total to a challenging two hundred and twenty-four. Jonney Almond (2-24) was the most successful bowler as five other bowlers from the Essex side picked up solitary wickets.

In reply the Rams took early wickets as Gabi Harter’s breakthrough was superbly backed up by Gary Ellis’ three wicket burst (3-22). A middle order fight-back from Ross Leavers (35), Almond (44) and Jon Hampson (20) briefly posed a threat but the home side held their nerve to pick up a twenty-seven-run victory. The skipper picked up a brace (2-42) matched by Faheem Noushad (2-36) and backed up by a tight spell from Arnav Wadekar (1-14).

The fourth team put in a credible performance against the runaway leaders, and now Champions of Division 4 Stapleford. Stapleford won the toss and opted for first use of their wicket. Opener Nick Walpole (81 from 100 balls) led the way for the side just over the river and received excellent support from Felix Hincks (57 off 60) and Rakesh Kapuge (32 from 27) as they finished their innings on two hundred and forty-five for six. Teenager Ethan Cashmore (3-34) led the way with the ball with some pretty creditable figures; skipper Dom Cameron supported his young bowler (2-58).

The Rams Niall Barber (58 from 62) led from the front with the bat. Josh Coleman who was playing just as a batter, due to a bowling injury, batted doggedly for his twenty-seven (off 61). Seasonal debutant Charlie Borley weighed in with fifteen (off18); the skipper a brisk twenty-eight (from 30) and Trevor Nicholl (10 off 27) but the Rams could only make it to one hundred and eighty-seven. Jacob Frampton jnr was the pick of the bowlers (3-25) and he received support from Nawaz Hijran (2-33) and  Walpole (2-16).