ALL the cricket action from across the district

CCA Division 5A

OUTSTANDING bowling from the youngsters of Sutton II helped them to a crushing five-wicket win over Histon III.

The innings was barely a few overs old when Ren Barnard bowled his first victim, and a further three Histon batsmen fell inside the seamer’s seven-over blitz that stunned the visitors.

Brad Franklin led a brief middle-order revival for Histon before Jack Loveday took up Barnard’s mantle and registered 3-16 in four tidy overs that saw Histon dismissed for a below-par 102.

Andy Bowles proved a calm head at the top of the order in Sutton’s reply, hitting 37 for the young side before he was dismissed.

Chris Robinson (12) and Cornelio De Plessis (19*) then took over to ensure Sutton’s path to victory was a comfortable one, chasing down the remaining runs with more than 18 overs to spare.

Tucker Premier League

FORDHAM suffered their second defeat of the season, going down by seven wickets against a very useful Saffron Walden side.

The home side began well against a pace attack, scoring at four-runs-per-over, but the introduction of the spinners changed the course of the innings.

Fordham slumped from 32 without loss to 83-4, although the unfortunate Nick Poole was run out and Gavin Harding went courtesy of a very strange stumping decision after making 31.

There were five stumpings in Fordham’s total of 141, with slow left armer Dome taking 5-38.

With the success of the Walden bowlers in their minds, Fordham opened up with a twin spin attack and it soon brought rewards. Graham Arnold trapped an opener lbw and then keeper Mirrisearchchi took a fine catch off the same bowler.

Batsmen Sindell was then dropped and Walden never looked back as the visitors’ number four forged a match-winning partnership of 121.

CCA Division 1A

WITCHAM were back to winning ways on Saturday as they overhauled league leaders Newmarket.

Batting first, Witcham started well and, thanks to some patient play from Glenn Griffiths (49) and Nick Jones (32*), were able to frustrate a normally fluid Newmarket attack. A late cameo from Jamie Lawrence (32) helped push Witcham’s score on to 184-7 at the close of the innings.

With more than four-runs-per-over to defend, Witcham could afford to go on the attack and they did just that as Newmarket failed to find the same rhythm as the home side.

Seasoned campaigner Nigel Phillips made his move from the second team into the firsts look seamless as he picked up 3-27 to lead the bowling for Witcham. Wickets continued to tumble at regular intervals for the home side and they eventually bowled the league leaders out for 167, 17 runs short of their target.

? FORDHAM II grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat as they won by just 12 runs at Bar Hill.

The home side were in sight of the winning post requiring 21 runs with five wickets and plenty of overs in hand.

But Phil Dean and Ian Jelleyman destroyed the tail end to dismiss the home team for 125, claiming their final five wickets for just eight runs.

Jelleyman took 5-34 and Dean 3-9 from seven overs. Earlier in the day Fordham had posted a target of 137, with Pat Wilmott making 46, V.J Vilthran (26) and Nick Foulds (22).

CCA Division 2A

A STRONG March batting line-up did just enough to overcome Soham in a three-wicket win on Saturday.

Batting first, Soham’s Nick Mingay (41) ensured his side’s start was a solid one and an undefeated 54 from David Thomas put the visitors in a good position.

Ducks for Joshua Pope and Lee Fuller threatened to derail Soham’s innings but order was restored by Tom Clayton who hit 35 lower down the order to push them on to 171-7 at the close.

Clayton’s efforts continued post lunch-break as he picked up two early wickets to send the March openers back into the hutch. The all-rounder, who took 3-34 on a busy afternoon, continued to turn the screw on March before the arrival of Brett Tinnion (30*) and Toby Nulty (31) who steered the home side to victory with four overs to spare.

? AN exemplary effort from Sutton’s bowlers put them firmly in the driving seat in their match against Chatteris, only for the home side’s batsmen to fritter their advantage away.

Electing to field first after winning the toss, Sutton were on top form in the field and quickly had Chatteris in trouble at 92-5 after a flurry of wickets from Chris Greaves (2-28) and Glenn Campbell (2-15).

With the opening bowlers spent, it was the turn of Paul Robinson to apply pressure to the visitors, creaking line-up and he needed only five overs to make his mark, taking three wickets for just 14 runs.

Jon Megginson turned back the clock in the field with an outstanding catch at slip off of a pearler from Robinson.

Chatteris final wicket fell with just 119 on the board.

A shaky start from Sutton in their reply saw them slip to 42-5 in double-quick time and only a brisk 31 from debutante Martin Cutherbertson kept them from a more sizeable defeat, their last wicket falling with just 87 on the board.

? LITTLE Downham’s whirlwind start to the season was brought to an abrupt end by Leverington on Saturday as they subjected them to a 110-run hammering.

Bowling first, Downham looked to have the measure of the visitors as they took two quick wickets with less than 40 runs on the board, only for D Dodman to haul Leverington back into the match with an undefeated knock of 103.

Jacques Steynberg added another 60 to the total in a mammoth stand with Dodman as the visitors pushed on to 224-5 at the close.

M Mace (1-10) and James White (1-23) were the stand-out performers for Downham in a difficult innings.

Gary Dewsbury hit 26 and Phil Cornwell made 23 as the home side made a decent-enough start to their reply but the absence of a series of big knocks ensured Downham came up well short. The last wicket fell with just 114 on the board.

Senior Division 2

ELY City’s difficult start to the season continued on Saturday as they were brushed aside by Wisbech II.

Ely’s M Hatcher hit 39 at the top of the order to inspire hope of a solid innings for the home side but his good work paled into near insignificance as the remaining three of Ely’s top four batsmen made only two runs between them.

Andy Buck added 30 to the total with a patient knock in the middle order for Ely but, with only 19 runs between the last six batsmen, Ely found themselves in dire straits at 119 all out.

Requiring just 2.7-runs-per-over for the win, Wisbech’s task was a relatively simple one but the pressure was raised a degree or two as Chris Reay (1-25) struck early.

Andrew Zajac (3-18) bowled superbly to keep Ely fighting to the last but some good work from Dom Stannard (43) ensured Wisbech cruised to victory with six wickets in hand.

CCA Division 3A

LITTLEPORT emerged narrow victors from an epic tussle with Haddenham at the weekend.

Batting first, Littleport belied the woes of recent weeks with a solid-looking performance that brought runs throughout the order.

Robin Freestone (21) and Jayson Reed (27) ensured the foundations were laid for the home-side with decent knocks at the top of the order while James South (47) added a touch of finesse in the middle-order. Some commendable contributions from the tail-end also proved vital in pushing the home side on to 175 before they were finally bowled out.

Iain Jacobs (3-16) and Jason Murfitt (3-24) performed superbly with the ball, while Mark Coles (3-34) also found some success.

Ben Shipp and James South struck early for Littleport as Haddenham’s openers fell cheaply but Geoff Buck (54) and Dillon Wass (18) led the fight-back and Port toiled. Some inspired work from Luke Peskett (4-17) swung the match back in the home side’s favour, however, and not even a fruitful late partnership between Adam Clow (36) and Kieran Grainger (17) could deny Port who bowled superbly to bowl Haddenham out for 163.

?WILBURTON’S copybook was finally blotted this week after an excellent batting performance from Ely II consigned them to a four-wicket loss.

An unusually sloppy batting performance from Wilburton saw them struggle for runs early on as Ely’s rampant attack made hay.

It wasn’t until the arrival of Chris Holden at the crease that Wilburton were finally able to kick into gear as the veteran held off the Ely attack to make 40. John Nicolle (29*) and Marcus Brook (19*) also weighed in with useful scores as the home side limped on to 142-7 at the close. Ely’s Mark Higginson (2-25) and Oliver Sellers (2-33) enjoyed productive spells for the visitors.

Though Wilburton’s bowling attack were able to take regular wickets against a struggling Ely line-up, they couldn’t find the extra gear needed to dismiss opener Thomas Beaumont, who clattered his way to a match-winning 88 not out with enviable gusto.

Paul Dewey took 3-27 and Steve Marshall 1-8 but their efforts were ultimately in vein as Ely reached their target with an over to spare.

CCA Division 4A

FORDHAM III went down against Isleham II by 38 runs.

Batting first, Isleham scored 177-6 with John Goff’s 70 dominating the innings, while Nick Clark was Fordham’s most successful bowler taking 4-33. Barry Houghton called in at late notice, made 67 not out and Carl Houghton 21 ion their sides’ response of 139-6.