Sudbury bounce back at Bury St Edmunds while Sawston & Babraham lose perfect record to keep race for South Group play-off entrant alive
It was a weekend of two halves for Sudbury with a disappointing defeat at the hands of Read Brothers Ltd East Anglian Premier League South Group leaders Sawston & Babraham on Saturday quickly avenged by a derby victory at Bury St Edmunds on Bank Holiday Monday.
Poor weather throughout last week made batting conditions challenging on both days but Sawston, protecting their 100 per cent record in the EAPL, won the toss and chose to bat.
Sudbury were disciplined with the ball and the going for the home side was relatively slow with Joshua Jordan (26) and Callum Guest (25) battling hard.
The dismissal of Guest, after a calamitous run out, left the score on 84-6 but lower order contributions including 35 off 27 balls from George Darlow saw Sawston reach 159-9 from 50 overs.
Tom Huggins was the pick of the bowlers with 2-18 from his 10 overs, while Ollie Riddick also picked up two scalps.
The Sudbury reply got off to the worst possible start when Huggins edged to slip from the first ball of the innings, and things went rapidly down hill from there.
Mark Smith was the destroyer in chief with 5-22 while Tim Moses (2-17) and Ben Clilverd (3-9) also bowled well.
Kenny Moulton-Day (22) was the only batsman to reach double figures and there were five ducks on an afternoon to forget for the Talbots who were all out for 48.
After such a chastening defeat on Saturday Sudbury were grateful for the opportunity to make amends two days later and travelled to Bury with the backing of a very healthy visiting support.
Despite losing the toss and being asked to field again, the returning James Poulson got off to the perfect start by dismissing the dangerous Alfie Marston for four before South African duo Justin Broad (59) and Chris Benjamin (26) steadied the hosts.
Billy Moulton-Day (3-36) made the important breakthrough when Benjamin edged to Adam Mansfield to leave the score on 61-2 and wickets fell at relatively regular intervals throughout.
Ryan Vickery struck twice to remove home captain Ben Seabrook and the well set Broad, restricting Bury to 127-5.
Despite 29 from James Sturgeon the Sudbury seamers restricted the batsmen in the final overs and finished well to take the momentum in to their chase of 178.
Martyn Cull and Keelan Waldock put on 36 for the first wicket to get the innings off to a solid start, but the quick loss of Darren Batch and Ben Parker to left arm seamer George Loyd saw the game hanging in the balance at 69-3.
The spin bowling of Josh Cantrell and Ben Whittaker caused problems on a used wicket and Bury went on the attack with close catchers around the bat.
While Ryan Vickery hit two sixes off Cantrell, the Suffolk off-spinner responded with two quick wickets to leave Sudbury 101-5.
Kenny Moulton-Day showed the same attacking spirit as Vickery, taking on the home spinners in his customary fashion to blast 30 from 16 balls.
While Moulton-Day was dismissed with 32 still required the entire momentum of the chase had shifted in Sudbury’s favour.
James Poulson showed his huge all-round value to the side with a calm 21 not out and opener Cull (59no) continued to stick to the basics right to the very end, showing his class to shepherd the chase in very similar fashion to that which he did against Frinton earlier in the season.
Sudbury won by four wickets with 12 overs to spare and this result, coupled with Sawston’s defeat to Copdock, left the situation at the top of the South Group very similar to how it had looked before the weekend’s action. The Cambridgeshire side are 19 points clear at the top with three rounds to play.
It was the opposite situation with the weekend for Bury St Edmunds, who had been the only other match to have any play during a rain-affected Saturday programme, where they recorded a seven-wicket victory on the Duckworth/Lewis System against bottom-of-the-table Frinton-on-Sea.
Results round-up:
Saturday:
North Group:
Great Witchingham v Mildenhall
Played at Walcis Park: Match Cancelled
Great Witchingham ( 7 points ) Mildenhall ( 7 points )
Horsford v Cambridge
Played at Manor Park
Match Cancelled
Horsford ( 7 Points ) Cambridge ( 7 points )
Swardeston v Burwell & Exning
Match Cancelled
Swardeton ( 7 points ) Burwell & Exning ( 7 points )
South Group:
Bury St Edmunds v Frinton on Sea
Played at Victory Ground:
Frinton on Sea 207 for 6 in 50 overs
Bury St Edmunds 84 for 3 in 19 overs
Bury St Edmunds ( 25 points ) beat Frinton on Sea by 7 wickets under DLS ( Revised target of 78 from 19 Overs )
Saffron Walden v Copdock & Old Ipswichian
Played at Anglo American Gtound: Match Cancelled
Saffron Walden ( 7 points ) Copdock & Old Ipswichian ( 7 points )
Sawston Babraham v Sudbury
Played at Spicers
Sawston Babraham 159 for 9 in 50 overs
Sudbury 48 all out in 20 overs ( M Smith 5 for 22)
Sawston Babraham (25 points) beat Sudbury (4 points) by 111 runs
Bank Holiday Monday:
North Group:
Burwell & Exning v Horsford
Play at Exning Park:
Horsford 232 for 6 in 50 overs (O Binney 97)
Burwell 100 all out in 34.2 overs (P Minns 7 for 17)
Horsford ( 25 points ) beat Burwell & Exning ( 3 points ) by 132 runs
Great Witchingham v Swardeston
Played at Walcis Park:
Swardeston 266 for 6 in 50 overs (J Taylor 93 P Lambert 53)
Great Witchingham 166 all out in 38.2 overs
Swardeston ( 25 points ) beat Great Witchingham ( 4 points ) by 100 runs
Mildenhall v Cambridge
Played at Wamil Way
Cambridge 126 all out in 38.1overs
Mildenhall 127 for 3 26.5 overs (J Potticary 85 )
Mildenhall ( 25 points ) beat Cambridge ( 1 points ) by 7 Wickets
South Group:
Bury St Edmunds v Sudbury
Played at Victory Ground:
Bury St Edmunds 177 for 8 in 50 overs (J Broad 59 )
Sudbury 179 for 6 (M Cull 59 not out) in 38 overs
Sudbury (25 points) beat Bury St Edmunds ( 5 points ) by 4 wickets
Saffron Walden v Frinton on Sea
Played at Anglo American Ground :
Frinton on Sea 225 for 8 in 50 overs (C Harris 52 J Rymell 52)
Saffron Walden 163 all out in 38.1 overs
Frinton on Sea (25 points) beat Saffron Walden (5 points) by 62 runs
Sawston Babraham v Copdock & Old Ipswichian
Played at Spicers:
Copdock & Old Ipswichian 195 for 9 in 50 Overs (B Claydon 75)
Sawston Babraham 157 all out in 43.3 overs (A Stafford 50)
Copdock & Old Ipswichian (25 points) beat Sawston Babraham (5 points) by 38 runs
