A big weekend of cricket ...

The Club has hardly had time to catch its breath following on from hosting Cambridgeshire’s three-day game against Northumberland before another big weekend of cricket is upon us.

On Saturday the first team travel to the beautiful surroundings and usually excellent wicket at Stow Hall to face Downham Stow. The hosts are on a good run having won their last two. So they like the Rams are probably a bit disappointed to return to fifty-over pink ball ‘pyjama’ cricket. The Norfolk side sit joint sixth in the table, well out of relegation trouble but a fair distance behind Swardeston in fifth. The Wilcox’s Ben and Finlay lead the way with the bat with both getting close to the five hundred runs mark with a quarter of the season left. Brett Stolworthy and Dan Cooke are neck and neck with the former just two wickets ahead of the overseas on twenty-five wickets.

The reverse fixture saw the Rams start that incredible unbeaten run, which now stands at thirteen league and cup matches, when they won by seven wickets at Spicers. The Rams again have the luxury of only making one change with James Sykes returning in place of Dan Andrew. The Rams have three batsmen in the leagues top ten run scorers, Callum Guest and Ben Claydon also had a bit more time in the middle for Cambridgeshire.  Claydon and Sykes both in the leagues top ten wicket-takers are still fighting for the Club title with Claydon four ahead (on thirty-four).

The game of the day, which could be pivotal in the race for the title, sees the in-form Copdock host long-time leaders Horsford. A win for the hosts could see them overhaul the Norfolk side, but a win for Horsford could give them a vital one match cushion. Swardeston host Frinton; Mildenhall travel to Sudbury and Ramsey face Bury at home, doubtless hoping for a less dramatic week.

On Sunday the first team, arguably have the biggest match in the Club’s history when they face Surrey Premier League’s Sutton in the ECB Rothesay National Club Championship.  Like Wimbledon in comparison to us they are an absolute mammoth of a club, looking at their website they field around about thirty sides in total across men’s, junior and women’s cricket. They have produced two County Cricketers in England’s Jamie Smith and Surrey’s Josh Blake in recent years. With Blake still registered and Surrey playing on Friday in Somerset and on Tuesday at home to Notts we can only hope he needs a rest. In the last round they defeated Peterborough Town by three wickets. With the bat Ryan Hackney; Jayden Broodryk and Cameron Tanner are leading the way. Harry Gardner, George Jackson and Aneesh Jhalla are the leading wicket-takers. They too have a big weekend of cricket ahead, having just gone into third place in the league, one place above our last round opponents Wimbledon. Last week they defeated second place Esher and this week they face the competition leaders East Molesey.

Read what a proper journalist has written about the quarter-finals  at ECB National Club Championship: Key Matches Ahead.

The second team have a home fixture against Southill Park. The visitors have upped they game of late and have given themselves a sporting chance of avoiding the drop, to stop their yo-yoing between the top two divisions. Ajay Momi, with three league tons, and Hitesh Chauhan have scored the bulk of their runs. Sami Younis and Chauhan have the most wickets for the Bedfordshire side. The seconds name their strongest side in a number of weeks, still however promoting our youth,  and will hope to bat their full allocation of overs.

The third team will hope to make it three wins out of the last four and back-to-back wins at home, at the Churchman Ground, when they entertain Birchanger. The visitors will be buoyed by their surprise win last week against second placed Rickling. They had lost their previous four matches. Despite this they have Justin Bass and Elliot Sellears in the division’s top ten run scorers; with James Crowe just ahead of the Ellis’s (Jake and Gary) in the bowler’s ladder. Jake Ellis welcomes back Arnav Wadekar, Gary Ellis, Sam Browne and Mohammad Khan.

Ordinarily the fourth team would just be looking forward to having a match following two weeks where the opposition have conceded. However, this week they face the unbeaten and free-scoring Stapleford. The side from just over the river only need twenty points to be crowned division four south champions. Stapleford’s and the division’s top run scorer is Varun Wadekar, father of Arnav, who has scored six hundred runs at an average of eighty-six! Ex-Ram Gareth Everson has also contributed over three hundred and fifty league runs. Rajesh Nair is their top wicket taker but he is four behind Adrian Platt (with twenty-three). The Rams will be that usual mix of experience and promising youth.