Suffolk County Cricket make three changes for final fixture against Lincolnshire in National Counties Championship

Suffolk have made three changes for their final National Counties Championship match of the season at home to Lincolnshire, starting on Sunday.

Tom Harper and Alex Oxley are left out of the side as an internal disciplinary measure and miss out on playing on their home ground at Copdock & Old Ipswichian CC with an 11am start.

They are replaced by club-mate Ollie Burle and Sudbury’s Adam Jones. Mackenzie Jones is unavailable, so Mark Smith comes in.

Both Jones and Smith, who featured for Suffolk in their white-ball campaign earlier in the season, will be making their Championship debuts.

Suffolk head coach Adam Mansfield said: “Tom Harper and Alex Oxley miss out on this match due to not meeting some non-negotiables we have as a team.

“We will continue to work with and support them to help them in our team culture moving forward as they are strong, exciting players for us and will be very important to us in the years to come.

“Adam Jones and Ollie Burle both come in. Both are doing well in the league and for our 2nd XI.

“We want to create an environment where local young players want to play 2nd XI cricket for the county as they know it’ll be rewarded.

“Mark Smith comes in as Mackenzie Jones is not available as he is playing against Yorkshire. He bowled well but the inclusion of Smith is great for us as he knows the ground well from playing league cricket in the area and his skills will hopefully help him take his chance and help us out in what is an important match.”

Suffolk enter the match knowing their Eastern Division One status is in their own hands. They sit 10 points behind Bedfordshire, who have finished their fixtures, and are seven adrift of Lincolnshire.

A win will secure their place in the top flight for next season, otherwise they must draw and realistically pick up at least seven of the eight bonus points on offer.

Reflecting on the five wicket-loss to Staffordshire at Stafford CC earlier this week, Mansfield said: “We wanted to go for the win, and if we had won, we would have been in contention to win the division.

“That’s why we play the game, to win trophies.

“George Rhodes and Darren Ironside played superbly, and they got us to a position where we felt right in the game. We felt 307 off 65 would be a tricky chase.

“They’d have to bat really well, but they could potentially give chances as they’d need to take some risks. Fair play to them. They batted well, and we weren’t at our best.

“We were bitterly disappointed, but we’ll dust ourselves off and go again on Sunday.

“Lincs will be a tough game, but I see how hard our boys work, and I have every belief in them to go and put in some big performances.”

Suffolk: Jack Beaumont (capt), Darren Ironside, Ben Parker, George Rhodes, Adam Jones, Ollie Burle, Jacob Marston, Josh Cantrell, Ronnie Mckenna (wkt), Mark Smith, Raj Singh.