East Anglian Premier League round-up: Sawston & Babraham lose top spot after home defeat while Mildenhall and Burwell & Exning play out draws
In a season of ‘firsts’ for Sawston & Babraham, they gained an unwanted one on Saturday as they lost back-to-back league matches for the first time since around 2018.
Already down to the bare bones of a squad missing Tim Moses, AP Stafford, George Darlow and Rishi Patel, the Rams were dealt a further blow when Noah Thain had to drop out with a serious back injury.
And it proved to be too much to contend with against Great Witchingham, going down by 125 runs at home and surrendering top spot in the Read Brothers Ltd East Anglian Premier League in the process.
Bowling first, the Sawston & Babraham attack removed at handful of the visitors' batsmen relatively cheaply. However, knocks of 94 and 50 not out from James Hales and Charlie Rogers respectively helped to move Great Witchingham on to a highly competitive 250-7 from 64 overs.
Meanwhile, the hosts' reply never really gained an genuine momentum as wickets fell at regular intervals.
Ethan Guest top scored with 42 – one of only four Sawston & Babraham batsmen to score double figures and the only to go beyond 40 runs.
Dan Heath's men were eventually dismissed for just 125 in 41.4 overs, and they now find themselves seven points adrift of new leaders Swardeston.
Elsewhere, Burwell & Exning and Mildenhall were both involved in drawn fixtures.
For Burwell & Exning (250-9), they were two wickets away from claiming the spoils against Cambridge (176-8) at Exning Park.
A number of the home side’s batsmen made useful contributions, including the trio of Olly Jefferies, Joe Tetley and Tim Catley, all of whom scored 40.
Luke Du-Plooy, meanwhile, went four runs better to be Burwell & Exning’s top scorer from their 64 overs with a return of 44.
As wickets fell during the Cambridge reply, it was apparent that an away victory was off the table.
However, they managed to dig in and despite the best efforts of Burwell & Exning’s Jay Ghelani (4-52), the away side claimed a draw.
Mildenhall (118-7), meanwhile, collected seven points from their trip to Frinton-one-Sea (217-8).
Jack Loveday (3-34) was the pick of the Mildenhall bowling attack before Darren Ironside batted some useful time during the reply, scoring 42 runs from 99 balls.
As for the A134 derby between Sudbury and Bury, that was the only EAPL lost to the rain.
The other Suffolk side in action – Copdock & Old Ipswichian (203-7) – played out a draw with Horsford (167-6).
Weekend fixtures for Saturday (11am)
Bury St Edmunds CC vs Saffron Walden CC
Cambridge CC vs Frinton on Sea CC
Copdock & Old Ipswichian CC vs Sawston & Babraham CC
Great Witchingham CC vs Burwell & Exning CC
Mildenhall CC vs Sudbury CC
Swardeston CC vs Horsford CC
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