Sawston & Babraham captain Dan Heath confident side will deliver Thurlow Nunn East Anglian Premier League title despite his absence
Despite the fact he will have to watch his team’s last three games of the season from the sidelines, Sawston & Babraham captain Dan Heath is confident his side will clinch their third Thurlow Nunn East Anglian Premier League (EAPL) title in four seasons.
Following the rain-enforced cancellation of their match at home to Witham on Saturday, the Rams remain top of the standings and one point ahead of second-placed Horsford, but they will be without their skipper for the run-in after he broke his toe in training last week.
Callum Guest, who captains Cambridgeshire, will don the armband for Sawston’s three remaining fixtures and Heath will be doing all he can off the pitch to help his side over the line.
“I just love being around the group, so I’ll enjoy that side of it,” he said. “I’m not a great watcher but ultimately we put the leg work in to get here now. It’s the last three games and I’ll be here to support the boys all the way, and anything I can do to help I’ll obviously do that.
“I’ve got all the trust in them and I know the lads are good enough to bring it home with or without me. I can’t see it being much of a difference.
“If I sat around feeling sorry for myself then that’s not going to change what’s happened. I think you’ve got to try and be positive and I’m in a very privileged position.”
The Rams begin their three-game run-in with a trip to seventh-placed Ashmanhaugh & Barton Wanderers tomorrow (11am) which, on paper, will be their toughest test – with the visit of ninth-placed Sudbury and a trip to bottom-of-the-table Frinton-On-Sea to follow.
Heath has been impressed with how his side have bounded together through adversity this season. Sawston lost bowlers Ben Kliverd and Ethan Rice to injury at the beginning of the campaign and then Ben Claydon to a fractured collarbone and a dislocated shoulder, who has only just returned.
Players such as Lee Thomason, who is a wicketkeeper, have had to bowl 10 overs in games to replace them.
If they are to bring back home another EAPL title, the Rams will have to dig deep again and find a way to win without their skipper.
“We’ve just had to stick at it, stick together and, in some ways, when you’ve got adversity it brings you together more as a team,” said Heath.
“The togetherness we’ve got as a squad is great. We’re all really close mates, the core of the team has won the league twice and we’ve added good players to that.
“In those early days with our backs to the wall, it brought us together as a team and that togetherness pulled us through so far this year.
“I would say there’s a lot of confidence (we will win the title) because we’ve done it before. I think we’ve marked Ashmanhaugh & Barton Wanderers as possibly the hardest one of the three because of the players they’ve got and they’re good at home.
“This is the one this week where I think if we can get through it, we’re two wins away and it’s on the table for us. The group is really confident and I hope in three weeks time we’ll be sat in top position and celebrating a third league win in four years.”
