Champions leapfrogged by Mildenhall
An all round poor display from defending champions Sudbury (161) saw them fall to a heavy home defeat to Mildenhall (165-3) on Saturday.
Sudbury never recovered from another poor start with the bat to record their second home defeat of the season, with Mildenhall leapfrogging them to take over top spot in the East Anglian Premier League
Much of the damage was done by Tom Rash, the Suffolk bowler removing Adam Mansfield, Darren Batch and Tom Huggins in an opening spell that set the tone for the match.
When Kenny Moulton-Day was removed by Hugo Douglas, adjudged caught behind, the score read 24-4.
Ben Parker held the innings together with a classy 48, but regular wickets continued to tumble as Mildenhall kept a grip on the league leaders.
Dan Poole played a counter-attacking knock of 28, but misjudged the length of one that scuttled under his bat and disturbed the timbers.
Parker did find a partner capable of supporting him when Joe Harvey came to the crease, the pair adding 46 valuable runs.
However, on the stroke of lunch disaster stuck when Parker was trapped lbw. After lunch, Sudbury only managed another two runs, losing their last two wickets in as many balls.
Once again, Sudbury needed to rely on their bowlers to get them out of trouble after a below par effort with the bat.
Jonny Gallagher started well by removing Matt Allen with one that rose to brush the glove on its way through to Mansfield.
The bowlers continued to create chances, but were not backed up in the field as three dropped catches cost the home side dearly.
Joe Reed, who was put down twice, went onto smash 97 not out on his way to a match-winning knock.
Reed was ably supported by Nick Maiolo (48) and James Stamatis (10), as Mildenhall cruised home with seven wickets still in hand.
Huggins did manage to pick up a couple of wickets to secure a second bonus point.
Sudbury will want to put this performance behind them quickly as the season approaches the halfway point.
Saturday sees the Talbots travel to Clare College to take on Cambridge CC which, on paper, could prove another tough outing for them.
l Sudbury went out of the National T20 Cup competition at Frinton on Sunday. Sudbury (196-4) beat Bury St Edmunds (133). Tom Huggins was unbeaten on 134 off 67 balls, and took 5-14 in Bury’s reply.
Sudbury (162) tied with Frinton (162-6), the hosts going through to the EAPL Finals Day, having lost fewer wickets. Darren Batch (37) and James Poulson (42) shared a 72-run sixth wicket partnership.
