Rams finish off superb red ball campaign in style

The Rams have certainly enjoyed a stunning long format season with eight wins and two draws (plus one abandonment) in the eleven match sequence. A major reason behind this success has been the outstanding performance of the bowlers; they have only conceded more than two hundred runs on one occasion.

On Saturday they faced, the unpredictable but,  highly dangerous AB Wanderers who in the previous week had topped a four hundred run total for the second time in the 2026 season; within their ranks they had also two batsmen who had scored double centuries this year. SBCC skipper Callum Guest won the toss and opted to bowl on another very sultry afternoon. The visitors innings started cautiously as their openers moved to forty-eight for no wicket. The break-through then came when Lee Thomason, somewhat untidily, stumped Jordan Everett (19 off 52 balls) off the bowling of Jack Beaumont. Their fifty came up in the twentieth over. Zak Tribe joined opener Kieran Spencer and they moved the score along to seventy. The Rams then critically took three wickets for just fifteen runs as Ben Clilverd (2-23) in an excellent spell removed Spencer (31 off 99) and overseas Jayden Draper; Wayne White in a lively spell of seam bowling then had Jay Parmar superbly caught by Dan Andrew in the deep. Tribe was joined by Josh Larner and they took AB Wanderers to lunch at ninety-three for four, with thirty-seven overs completed.

The three figures and then Tribe’s fifty (from 56 balls) came up shortly after the break. Tribe and Larner’s partnership had added forty-eight (off 74 balls) when Tribe had a bit of a hack off Beaumont and he was caught by Ben Claydon for fifty-five (from 65 balls). Larner then followed, bowled by Claydon (1-54), just sixteen runs later. Craig Beeden (30 from 68)  and Joe Flatt (13 no off 21) added twenty-eight before the former was trapped in front by Beaumont (3-33) with the score on one hundred and eighty-eight. White (2-38) , now bowling off-spin had AB’s skipper Joe Everett caught in the deep by Miguel Machado. The innings closed after the full allocation of sixty-four overs on one hundred and ninety-nine.

In comparison to the AB Wanderers innings the Rams and in particular Ralph Hayward set off at a fair clip.  The young opener raced to a fluent fifty from just fifty-one balls. He was however, trapped in front by Tommy Chambers (1-25), with the reply on seventy-two in the seventeenth. Sawston skipper Callum Guest was then joined by Ethan Rice with the pair progressing the total into three figures, with tea taken at one hundred and sixteen for one (after 27 overs). The pair moved to another fifty stand quickly after the break before Guest went to his personal half-century and the total to one hundred and fifty. Rice (37 from 43) fell one run later when he was caught in the deep off Parmar (1-35). The visitors struck again just four runs later as Guest was deceived by a full ball from Tribe (1-37). That was as good as it got for the visitors as Claydon (25 from 30) and Dan Andrew (25 from 31) added an unbeaten forty-eight to take the Rams to a seven wicket win in the forty-fourth over.

Three of the Rams’ young guns helped to cause an upset as Cambridgeshire’s Under 14’s defeated their first class county counterparts Kent by one wicket. The visitors, to our Churchman Ground at Babraham,  were restricted to one hundred and seventy-seven. Dhrona Irinjalakudakkaran (2-45), Etienne Lamb (2-36) and skipper Gabi Harter (2-16) all picked up braces to restrict the Kent total. Dhrona then dominated the reply scoring a very impressive one hundred and nine not out (off 130 balls) as the home side got home nine down.

Elsewhere in the AVL EAPL the top two continued their impressive form as leaders Horsford demolished Sudbury and their closest title challengers Copdock eased to a win at home to Witham. Swardeston won a low scoring affair at Mildenhall with a win that keeps them in the frame for the 2026 competition but severely dented the hosts hopes. Downham Stow overcame Bury. At Frinton, the game was abandoned due to an unfit surface and a nasty finger injury  to one of the Ramsey batsmen. The game was awarded to Ramsey.