Cricket roundup: Week ending July 5

Cricket roundup

CCA Junior League 6N

THE Northrops were the difference between the teams as Sutton II hosted Willingham II on Saturday.

Nick and Steve tore their way through the visitor’s lineup as Sutton bowled first, taking 5-18 and 4-23 respectively as the innings came to a close with just 98 runs on the board. Andy Bowles (1-36) picked up the remaining wicket.

Opening the batting, Bowles made 17 while opening partner Chris Robinson made 28. Willingham’s Peter Nunn (3-22) threatened to spoil the party with a flurry of quick wickets before Tim Phillips (20) came to the crease to steer the hosts to a four-wicket win.

FORDHAM III had a great opportunity to claim victory with the hosts struggling on 44-4 chasing a total of 178-7.

But the concession of extras, a dropped catch or two and a fine innings destroyed their hopes of a win.

Fordham opener Tom Hancock dominated his side’s innings for the second week running with a superb 88 not out.

He was well supported by Ollie Mitchell (32) and Johnny Poole(27) in partnerships of 69 and 70 for the second and fourth wicket.

After the hosts early slump, Mark Sirot-Smith, who was dropped three times, led his side to victory with 84 not out assisted by a whirlwind 29 from Mark Thompson.

Jonno Patton took 2-37 for Fordham.

Tucker Gardener Premier Division 2

AFTER a recent run successes, Fordham endured a bad day at the crease as they produced a sub-standard performance to go down by 124 runs at Weston Colville.

In contrast, the hosts performed admirably with stalwart opening batsman, Andy Brightmore carrying his bat through to the end with 101 not out.

Brightmore and Alex Meddle (27) put on 67 for the first wicket, and after a brief Fordham fightback, Paul Dean (53), shared in another substantial partnership of 96 with the Colville opener.

This enabled the home side to set a tough target of 240-5 at the close of their innings.

Clinton Cornwell took two wickets but the rest of the visiting bowlers were unable to recapture their form of recent weeks.

Unfortunately for Fordham, the batting followed a similar pattern and despite innings of 31 and 24 respectively, from Jason and Gavin Harding, they succumbed to 116 all out in 41 overs.

Robbins claimed 4-49, Daniels 2-4 and Adie Westley 2-25.

CCA Senior League 3

A SUPERB individual performance was the highlight of Fordham II’s seven-wicket victory over Sawston II.

After claiming 5-41 with the ball, Shoab Khan blasted 81 runs out of a total of 93 in 16 overs to put his side on the road to victory in this CCA Senior 3 encounter.

Khan’s scored 29 from the first three overs and his half century came up in just nine overs, when the score was 56.

When he had gone, solid batting from Reece Theobald (29 not out), Callum Hale (18 not out) and Nick Poole (16) enabled Fordham to cross the winning line with nine overs to spare.

Earlier in the afternoon, Sawston had set a target of 161 with skipper Guy Masterson making 54 and Peter Harvey 32, after recovering from 66-5 at one stage.

In addition to Khan’s wickets, Ian Jelleyman grabbed 3-31 on his return to second team duty with Jack Peters (1-8 from 8 overs) and Mark Barton(1-25) also among the wickets.

CCA Junior League 1N

WITCHAM returned to form with a bang on Saturday as they beat Wimblington by 163 runs.

Witcham have struggled for runs in recent weeks but showed no such trouble at the weekend as they racked up 302 runs from their 40 overs. In-form Brandon Phillips impressed again with a knock of 63, with Jamie Lawrence (54*) and Iain Housden (72) also in fine fettle.

In reply, Witcham bowled the visitors out for just 139, with Angus Pate picking up three wickets, Housden one and Lourens Herslemann two.

CCA Junior League 2N

SUTTON captain James Nuttall was in fine form with the ball to help his side secure victory over Abbots Ripton.

Bowling first, Nuttall’s side made light work of the hosts batting line up, removing the top four batsmen with less than 12 runs scored between them.

A muted middle order fightback saw the hosts move past 50 but it wasn’t to last as Sutton turned up the heat. Nuttall took 5-25 in an excellet eight over spell, with Aiden Bowles (2-11) and Ren Barnard (2-19) also pitching in as Ripton were all out for 74.

Cornelio De Plessis (15) and Michael Grady (11) started confidently enough, but their team mates largely struggled to deal with the pace of Mohammed Miah and (4-25) and Richard Charter (3-22). A healthy extras column that amassed some 23 runs saw Sutton over the line however, with four wickets to spare.

HADDENHAM got back to winning ways with a comfortable 30-run win over Leverington.

Batting first, John Lee and Chris Hughes guided Haddenham into a good position as they hit 71 and 51 respectively. The visitors had amassed 170-9 by the close of the innings.

Darren Searle bowled accurately to snag three wickets for 57 runs, while Hughes weighed in with 2-27. Leverington were dismissed for 140.

PYMOOR eased to a four wicket win over Cambridge Granta III.

Bowling first, Pymoor did a super job to restrict the visitors to just 130. After an early wobble, Pymoor recovered to reach their target with plenty of wickets in hand.

WILBURTON moved joint-top of the league after grinding out a two-wicket win against Cambridge NCI IV.

NCI were 27 for 7 after 14 overs thanks to Steve Marshall (3-12) and Marcus Brook -who enjoyed a 4-9 spell. The next two wickets added 48 runs, with John Baker taking the lead, as he made 30. Matthew Voutt - at number 10 -second top scored with 16. Wilburton’s Ian Jacobs ended the innings with 2-8 as the visitors totalled 82.

Much like their opponents, Wilburton were quickly in trouble with the bat and were staring down the barrel at 38-5.

Calum Steel and Jacobs added 19 for the seventh wicket, Steel eventually dismissed for 22. Spencer Saberton scored a quick-fire 14 and it was left to Jacobs (11*) and Marcus Brook to see Wilburton to the points by 2 wickets with Voutt taking two late wickets for six runs.

CCA Junior League 4N

SOHAM were woefully short of runs in their tussle with Bluntisham II.

Batting first, the visitors looked to have started strongly, with opener Peter Fretwell hitting three fours and two sixes in a quick-fire 28. With the veteran’s dismissal, however, there wasn’t much else to write home about as Soham faltered.

Matthew Fretwell (14) and Tom Clayton (14) made good starts but were unable to kick on as Soham were dismissed for just 117.

Krishanth Sunaharalingan and Peter Fretwell bowled tightly to keep the pressure on Bluntisham early on but their opening pair batted obstinately to deny them any chances.

Tom Acton hit an undefeated 44 to guide his side past the winning post with seven wickets in hand. Nick Mingay took 1-18 to lead the bowling for Soham.

LITTLEPORT made light work of Bottisham and Lode on Saturday as they powered to a seven-wicket win.

In-form Port bowled the visitors out for a meagre 68 in double-quick time, leaving them with a run chase of less than two runs per over for the win.

The hosts lost just three wickets in their chase to record a seventh win in eight matches.