Bury St Edmunds played Sawston and Barbraham in the Thurlow Nunn East Anglian Premier League at the Victory Ground on Saturday after a week of significant rainfall the winning captain at the toss was always likely to bowl and Josh Cantrell duly invited the visitors to bat, as it turned out the wicket played better than expected more like an April surface with a lack of bounce. The Sawston openers Wayne White and Calum Guest batted with great care and attention putting on 66 for the first wicket. White was first out for 43 from 84 deliveries to the spin of Ben Whittaker Guest followed to the same bowler for 36 off 81 on 97.
Interestingly the wickets came in pairs Cantrell taking the next two with Yosef Choudary making 31 the following two wickets were attributed to Tom Rash and included Suffolk captain Jackie Beaumont for 25, Alex Cruickshank took the final two wickets taking 2.26 off his 8 overs. The final score of 195.8 proved enough to avoid defeat which seemed to be the main focus of the Sawston bowling. Bury openers Nikethan Radhakrishan (23) and Alex Maynard (32) put on 55 in quick time but both were out caught Cantrell (13) and Rash (9) followed Will Routledge who had played a solid innings of 18 off 73 balls was 5th out on 99 Max Whittaker made 8 and brother Ben 19 when Cruickshank was out in the 53rd over at 147.8 it looked like that Bury could lose but Sean Park used all his experience ( 34 not out from 64)and Oliver Riddick is no ordinary no 10 batsman as he played well ending 13 not out.
The game finished in a bizarre fashion, in this league 17 overs need to be bowled in the final hour commencing at 6.15 by 7.08, 18 overs had been bowled Bury were 174.8 and at least two more overs could have been bowled but in poor light and having been told by the umpires only spin would be permitted Sawston elected to give the ball to their pace bowler prompting an early finish, Bury would have had another batting point on 175! George Darlow taking 5.45 was the outstanding bowler.
The draw means Bury slip from 2nd to 5th in the league
Bury’s 2nd team lost away to Braintree who posted 251 all out opener Matt Renvoize scoring 95 before being 6th out caught by James Sturgeon off Jack Howland. Geoff Eveling (39) Josh Newman (33) and Matt Childs (25) all made useful runs. Sam Howland taking 3.28. James McKinney 2.24 and Joe Corder 2.43 Bury made an outstanding start to their innings with James Sturgeon (75) and Archie Jones (84) putting on 165 for the first wicket a strong position but the middle order did not follow the excellent start and a late collapse saw Bury all out for 223 Xander Brown (19) with the only other significant contribution Chris Hinds (3.31) and Robby Spalding (3.37) bowling well.
A very good win the 3rd team at home to Earl Stonham. Bury fielded first bowling out their opponents for 135. Tom Wright was injured early while bowling but it was Vivek Rajagopal (9.2.22.4) who did the damage helped by Danny Harrison with 3.25 and Joel Johnson with 2.11 off 8 overs. Scott Eadie was the visitors top scorer with 35. Bury were indebted to Zyan Imam who batted well making 46 off 111 deliveries on a pitch where technique was important he was 6th with the score on 116. Charlie Johnson contributed a brisk 28 off 30 deliveries and Joel Johnson finished on 28 not out with Jordie Dye taking 4.23.
Unfortunately the 4th team game away to Haverhill 3rds was lost to the weather.
On Sunday a welcome win the the 2nd team at home to Bardwell Bury scored 199.8 on a day with an early start Ammad Hassan Fida scoring 54 John Hartwright made 21 with Sam Aldous scoring 42 and father Simon 37 not out Bardwell were all out for 82 Oliver Reeve making 23 and Jack Reeve 20 Michael Faulkner taking 2.15 Krishna Sinha with 2.14 but it was Sam Hartwright who completed the win with 4 wickets for just 3 runs a bowling performance that earned him Byron Burgers Player of the week.
On Monday evening the under 15 team won well against Mildenhall the Super 8 format ensures as many as possible get a bat in the 20 overs by making players retire on making 25 in this case Zyan Imam, Arlo and Dillon Bhavsar, Ben Baldock Rory Blewitt and Will Dilks all reached this score in a remarkable 219.0
Mildenhall scored 117.6 Seamus Gallagher taking 2.18 off 3 overs and Imam 2.11.
Greene King Players of the week Sean Park, James Sturgeon, Archie Jones, Vivek Rajagopal, Danny Harrison, Zyan Imam, Ammad Hassan Fida and Sam Hartwright.
Next week the 1st team are away to Whitham 2nd team at home to Felixstowe 3rd team away to West Mersea and 4th team at home to Tuddenham. On Sunday the 1st team are away to Cavendish.