CCA SENIOR DIVISION 2 Ely/Haddenham 110-5 Burrough Green 108 Ely/Haddenham won by five wickets DESPITE heavy rain washing over the Paradise Ground during the tea break Ely/Haddenham went on to beat bottom-placed Burrough Green on Saturday. Conditions wer

CCA SENIOR DIVISION 2

Ely/Haddenham 110-5

Burrough Green 108

Ely/Haddenham won by five wickets

DESPITE heavy rain washing over the Paradise Ground during the tea break Ely/Haddenham went on to beat bottom-placed Burrough Green on Saturday.

Conditions were wet and slippery at the start of the match but the umpire let play go ahead.

Burrough Green batted first and struggled to cope with the conditions. Balls were skidding and flying off unpredictably and causing no end of problems for the visiting team. Opening batsmen Ian Lister stood up to it well and reached 31 before he was caught out by Ed Aniskowicz. Most of the remaining batsmen struggled to make an impact, though No 9 Eddie Relihan scored a respectable 23 not out, but Burrough Green were all out for 108 inside 30 overs.

Robin Hammerton put in another excellent bowling performance for Ely/Haddenham with 4 for 20 including three maidens in his seven overs. Mark Deas also bowled well, conceding just 21 runs in his eight overs and Mike Grady took 2 for 13 in 2.1 overs.

The match was delayed during the interval as the rain poured down and an early finish looked ominous. The weather cleared up and, after consultation between the two teams and the umpire, the match continued.

Burrough Green's bowlers tried to take advantage of the wet surface. Spectacular full-stretch diving catches came from Ian Lister, in the dismissal of No 2 Kevin Wells, and Bobby Phillips to get out Mike Grady. Lister also bowled very well with 2 for 39 from 12 overs and Eddie Relihan weighed in with 3 for 32 from nine overs as Burrough Green put in a spirited fightback.

Yet Mark Abbott was again in fine form and Ely/Haddenham's highest scorer with 27. The home side never looked seriously troubled until, with just nine runs needed to take the victory, the skies opened up and the umpire picked up the bails, signalling his intent to abandon the match. This drew a very sporting response from Burrough Green who indicated their wish to finish the game. The remaining runs were picked up by the impressive Ed Aniskowicz (20 not out) and Jonny Wallace (17) on his return from injury.

CCA DIVISION 2NA

Soham 191-7 Milton II 130-8

Soham won by 61 runs

SOHAM bounced back from last week's defeat to beat Milton II at home on Saturday.

Soham batted first and things didn't go smoothly as they lost both openers cheaply to good balls from M Jones, with Todd Bridgland caught at slip from the second ball of the match. The rest of the Soham batsmen got on with the job and Dave Thomas and Ian Bowman accelerated the run rate producing a decent partnership of 72 before Bowman was trapped lbw by J Nayar after making a decent 27 runs.

After a short rain break and early tea the players got back out on the field. Thomas was joined by Lewis Beckett who wasted little time and got stuck into the Milton attack. Thomas was then out bowled by Sanderson for a top score of 78, including nine boundaries, as he batted aggressively and tried to increase the run-rate.

David Lunn came to the crease and made a quick-fire 20 before being well caught in the outfield by I Jackson off Sanderson's bowling. Beckett was then dismissed for an aggressive 30. Andy Cutchey made a good cameo hitting the last two balls for four and finishing on 9 not out and Soham ended on a respectable 191-8.

Soham made early inroads with Alex French taking a wicket early on. Milton fought back with M Jervis (25) and G Newton (34) but both were run out.

Soham restricted the scoring with tight, accurate, disciplined bowling and eventually killed off the game.

Milton finished on 130-8, 61 runs short of their target. Pick of the bowlers was David Lunn with 3 for 33 and he was well supported by Chris Branch (2 for 35) and French with 1 for 20.

CCA DIVISION 4NB

Cambourne II 116

Isleham II 164-8

Isleham II won by 48 runs

AFTER a controversial game, Isleham's second team were delighted to come away with a well-deserved victory at Cambourne on Saturday.

Isleham lost the toss and were put into bat, and it soon became clear why. The ball was getting up of a length and the Isleham openers' Robert Blair and Darren Diver had to show great bravery. Isleham skipper Martin Hancock even threatened to take his team off if the short bowling continued. Blair and Diver put on 83 for the first wicket before Blair fell trying to sweep a leg-spinner. Diver continued to bat well and made 62 before falling to Fuaf. All the other Isleham batsmen fell cheaply before Hancock came in at the end and hit a quick-fire 23.

More controversy followed at the interval when the Isleham players were still without their tea after a 45 minute wait so it was agreed that 10 overs would be played before tea was taken. The Isleham captain Hancock, a veteran of the village scene, described it as "the best 10 overs of cricket he has been involved in" as Isleham came out fired up.

Cambourne were 28 for 4 after the 10 overs and they never recovered, and were eventually all out for 110 in the 32nd over. Blair, Bruce and Goff all took good catches in the deep and 11-year-old Sam Hillary took two catches, including one diving effort in the covers. Leighton Sheldrick finished with figures of 3 for 22 and Hancock 4 for 27.

The controversy continued at the end when the Cambourne skipper refused to name Isleham's man of the match.

CCA DIVISION 4NB

Fordham III 76-4 Witcham II 73

Fordham III won by six wickets

WITH Fordham's first team having a rest and the second team's match against Littleport abandoned due to bad weather, it was left to the third team to win at the weekend.

Superb bowling from Rob Grimwood with 5 for 17 and Steve Willis, 5 for 19, destroyed Witcham and they were all out for 73.

Ryan Houghton's innings of 38 put Fordham well on their way and Morley added 18 to ensure a comfortable six wicket victory for Fordham.

LOWER JUNIOR CUP

SEMI FINAL

Barrington 129 Littleport II 130-4

Littleport II won by six wickets

A MAN-OF-THE-MATCH performance from Jamie Leonard on Sunday secured Littleport second team's passage to the final of the Lower Junior Cup.

Littleport won the toss and put Barrington in to bat on a very green wicket. Opening bowlers' James South and Jamie Leonard took early wickets.

Littleport stuttered at the start of their innings with Robin Freestone (12) and Stephen Kimsey (9) dismissed early on. No 3 Jamie Leonard then came into bat and won the match. Leonard smashed his way to an impressive 46 to put Littleport in a commanding position.

FRIENDLY MATCH

Old Wilhads 209-7

Welney Croft 205-7

Old Wilhads won by four runs

OLD WILHADS won a thrilling match on Sunday thanks to Nigel Baker.

Baker came in at No 5 to smash out 109 runs before he retired and he even managed to score 30 runs in a single over with three sixes and three fours.

Graham Park was Welney's best bowler with 3 for 33 and John Loveday also bowled well taking 2 for 20.

In the final over of the match Welney needed 16 runs. They put up a great fight but managed just 12 and were left short by just four runs after the last ball.