TUCKER PREMIER LEAGUE Fordham 207-4 Castor and Ailsworth 205-8 Fordham won by six wickets A SUPERB partnership of 125 between brothers Darren and Jason Theobald led Fordham to their second successive league victory. Castor and Ailsworth batted first and

TUCKER PREMIER LEAGUE

Fordham 207-4 Castor and Ailsworth 205-8

Fordham won by six wickets

A SUPERB partnership of 125 between brothers Darren and Jason Theobald led Fordham to their second successive league victory.

Castor and Ailsworth batted first and the highlight of their innings came from a sublime knock of 85 from opener Dryden with Rodgers also in fine form, making 68 not out.

Castor began in dominant fashion with 42 runs coming off the first six overs. But Fordham failed to buckle under the pressure and gradually stemmed the rapid flow of runs.

A mammoth score looked likely and after long spells of bowling from Clinton Cornwell, who took 3 for 45 and Graham Arnold who got 3 for 69 the visitors ended on 205-8 after their allotted 48 overs.

Fordham began their response well despite losing opener Neil Clarke for nine early on. Fellow opener Christopher Rule played solidly and made 27 while No 3 Matthew Foulds hit several glorious shots on his way to 35.

But it was the awesome Theobald brothers who managed to inflict the real damage and effectively win the match for Fordham.

Darren (62) and Jason (60 not out) smashed the ball all over the park to ensure a comfortable victory with six wickets and eight overs to spare.

CCA DIVISION 1

Milton 184 Fordham II 75

Milton won by 109 runs

FORDHAM'S second team were stretched to the limit in this league match away at Milton.

The home side batted well and with confidence and they were able to reach an impressive 184. Ian Woodbridge was Fordham's best bowler with five wickets for 38 runs.

The Fordham innings fell apart early on and they were not helped by a deteriorating pitch. Only two players were able to go on and make double figures as the side were all out for 77.

Two young players, Charles Forden and Jordan Theobald made their second team debuts.

CCA DIVISION 2NA

Soham 198-8 March Town III 54

SOHAM hosted only their second home game of the season on Saturday and they won stylishly against March III's.

Soham batted first on a minefield of a pitch and combated the uneven bounce by scoring quickly with openers Todd Bridgland and Robin Jones batting with confidence and aggression. They shared an opening stand of 74 before Bridgland (27) was caught in the 16th over from a J Stimpson ball.

Jones continued to play well but was caught behind off a fast ball from R West. Jones had, by this point, smashed his way to 38 and inflicted much damage.

Josh Pope came in at three and wasted little time. He scored a quick-fire 32. Peter Hinde, in contrast, played the anchor role in the Soham innings batting from the 19th to 39th over and scored a steady 25.

Due to the aggressive batting style of the majority of the Soham team, which caused a collapse, they only managed to get to 189-8 off their 40 overs. It looked like Soham had the potential to go on and set a higher target. West proved to be March's best bowler and he took four wickets at a cost of 38 runs.

Soham's bowlers put in a good all round performance. The opening bowlers proved economical with Keith Metcalfe taking one wicket for eight runs and Chris Branch bowling three maidens in his seven over spell. At the ten over mark the duo had restricted the batsman to 23 runs and thanks to Branch, Alex French and David Lunn only six more runs were added in the next 10 overs.

French became the star of the show by taking four wickets for thirteen runs, his best figures of the season, and this was supported well by Lunn, who took 2 for 4 and wicketkeeper Jones also looked sharp. Lewis Beckett came on for a brief spell of two overs in which he took 3 for 8. March were dismissed in the 27th over for 54 runs, losing by 132.

It was a good performance from Soham with catches coming from Pope, Bridgland, Metcalfe and Andy Cutchey. Chances were dropped but they were not made to pay this time.

CCA DIVISION 2NB

Cottenham II 165 Wilburton 141

Cottenham II won by 24 runs

WILBURTON fell short in this closely contested league match at Cottenham on Saturday.

Cottenham batted first and despite an unremarkable start they recovered from a position 87 for 5 to go on and reach a respectable 165.

Cottenham's opening batsman V Asari went for a duck but Paul Shadrack (28), Liam Brett (25) and Alex Richard (24) took the score to 116 and put Cottenham back in control. Lance Key then stepped in at No 8 to push Cottenham into a commanding position. Key hit nine fours on his way to 41.

Mick Garner bowled well for Wilburton, at one point he had two wickets at a cost of no runs from just seven balls, and he finished with 3 for 25 from nine overs. Richard Jacobs was Wilburton's other main wicket taker with three wickets from 10 overs at a cost of 52 runs.

Wilburton's opening batsmen started dreadfully with Drane going for a duck and Foot for just two. The visitors were rescued when father and son pairing Antony and Ian Jacobs added 65 in 39 minutes for the fourth wicket, with Ian hitting six four's on the way to his 40 score and Antony getting five four's on the way to his 35. Wilburton immediately struggled after the Jacobs' were dismissed but they kept plugging away and were not going to give up without a fight. R Jacobs restored hope with his 16 before his dismissal. NS Marshall then desperately tried to hang on with Garner as they strived to reach the 166 target but a delivery from Shadrack dismissed Marshall for 13 and effectively ended the game.

While Shadrack bowled impressively for Cottenham, taking three wickets from six overs, G Griffiths caused the most damage with five wickets from his 10 overs.

CCA DIVISION 3NA

Pymore 70-2 Bluntisham II 68

Pymore won by eight wickets

PYMORE claimed a comfortable win with Ward the star of the show with five wickets from seven overs on what was clearly a bowlers' day on Saturday.

Bluntisham batted first and throughout their innings they struggled to get any real rhythm going. J Prior was the highest scorer for Bluntisham with 23 but the rest of the runs just came in fits and starts in what was a very fragmented innings and no other Bluntisham batsmen were able to reach double figures.

Ward bowled exceptionally well, claiming 5 for 12. Davies and Saberton also bowled well, weighing in with two wickets each and Godsmark was impressive in the field with three catches.

Despite the difficult batting conditions Pymore's opener P Ruskin was able to almost single-handedly win the game with his hugely impressive 42 not out. Sibson took the wickets of G Park and E Davies for a combined total of just two runs but Ruskin's performance ensured the 69 target was easily reached.

CCA DIVISION 3NA

Wimblingdon 91 Ely/Haddenham II 94-5

Ely/Haddenham II won by five wickets

ELY/HADDENHAM second team notched up their first away win in more than two seasons.

The win came on Saturday at struggling Wimblingdon.

After winning the toss Ely/Haddenham captain Benjamin Storey chose to bowl first on the artificial pitch. It didn't take long for them to make a breakthrough and Michael Beeby claimed the first wicket in the fifth over which came from a sharply-taken catch from wicket keeper Michael Tinker. Storey also imposed himself on the game early on. He bowled extremely well and staggeringly conceded just two runs from his first five overs, which included four maidens.

Beeby was injured in his third over and replaced by the aggressive body-line bowling of Andrew Foster. Together, Storey and Foster bowled tight spells forcing pressure on the batsmen, where their only outlets were outrageous, high-risk shots which led to a couple of dropped catches.

Storey ended up with impressive figures from his 10 overs. He bowled four maidens and took 4 for 32.

Foster also bowled well and took 3 for 28 from his 10 overs.

George Eddy and Daniel Yardy then came in to bowl and they both claimed a wicket a each as Wimblingdon were all out for 91.

It only took Ely/Haddenham 19 overs to wrap up the victory. Steve Jackson (13), Joe Laidler (17), Greg Hopkinson (17) put the visitors into a strong position and then Simon Kelly knocked an marvellous 21 not out on his return to cricket after a three year absence from the game.

This was Ely/Haddenham's fifth consecutive victory and it keeps them within touching distance of league leaders Waterbeach.

Ely/Haddenham face the undefeated Waterbeach next Saturday at the Paradise ground.

CCA DIVISION 3NB

St Ives III 214-5 Sutton II 131

St Ives won by 81 runs

LEAGUE leaders St Ives were too strong for Sutton on Saturday.

St Ives won the toss and chose to bat first and they managed to put up a formidable 214 target. J Bowland was the top scorer with a magnificent 73 not out.

Sutton's opening bowler Jan Decker put in a fine performance and throughout his 10 overs he managed to go on and take 3 for 32 with two maidens.

Spin bowler Phil Day also performed well. He gave away just 35 runs off his 10 overs and he was unfortunate to not take any wickets. Paul Robinson and Phil Harrison also weighed in with a wicket each.

Sutton got off to the worst possible start when they came in to bat and the opening four batsmen were unable to reach double figures. Vice captain Mick Few came in at No 5, steadied the onslaught, and managed to go on to score a fine 51 under pressure.

Sutton's hopes were revived at this point but despite gallant efforts from Shaun Bristow (22) and Steve Day (16) they were never able to make a game of it.

D Jarrett was the star bowler for St Ives with three wickets at a cost of just 22 runs with three maidens in his 10 overs. P Ramsey, A Harding and M Wood all bowled well and took two wickets each and D Stevens took the last wicket in his only over of the game.