HEAVY downpours caused havoc for many of Huntingdonshire s cricket sides at the weekend, but those games that beat the weather produced some exciting finishes. Cambs Division 1A QUICKFIRE Needingworth beat the weather to record a good win over NCICC II.

HEAVY downpours caused havoc for many of Huntingdonshire's cricket sides at the weekend, but those games that beat the weather produced some exciting finishes.

Cambs Division 1A

QUICKFIRE Needingworth beat the weather to record a good win over NCICC II.

Needingworth bowled out the visitors for just 93 and quickly put the bowlers to the sword, rattling up 94-6 in just 22 overs to snatch the points.

Somersham smashed their way to 266-1 and then dismissed a sorry Willingham outfit for a paltry 87.

Cambs Division 3A

ALL-ROUNDERS from Fenstanton played a crucial role in halting their team's slide down the table as the hosts recorded their first win since June against Doddington II. Invited to bat first on a good wicket, Mike Piaggesi (41) and Mahmood Yakub (37) put on 66 for the first wicket and Andy Taylor (43*) guided Fenny to a total of 156. Piaggesi (3-26) and Taylor (2-2) then put a stranglehold on the Doddington reply and with Brett Logue (3-25) also in a mean mood Doddington did well to reach 75.

Cambs Division 5A

Needingworth II reached 144-6 in less than ideal conditions but had to settle for second best as NCICC V took the spoils with 148-5.

Hunts League 4

ALCONBURY II got back to winning ways against a spirited Buckden II side that had to bat first on a drying wicket. Buckden did well to reach 97 against some accurate bowling by Adam Dighton (4-27) and Pete Edwards (2-7).

Alconbury opener Steve Alexander (34) got the innings off to a flyer and with the conditions improving Dave Cotton (34*) saw that Alconbury reached 101-3 to record the win and grab 30 points.

Warboys II made sure hosts Eaton Socon struggled when they batted first - tight bowling restricted them to just 102 with only Barry Cavilla (33) having the ability to stick around and make runs.

Warboys' batsmen coped much better and rattled along to 103-2 with Joe Dawborn (2-17) the only bowler to meet with any success.

Hilton made a very challenging 176-7 against Orton Park II and then restricted the visitors to 106.

Hunts League 5

GREAT Staughton continued their assault on the Division Five title with an emphatic win over Huntingdon II. Batting first, Staughton's Pete French (59) led the way supported by excellent knocks from Andrew French (44) and Dave Head (42) and the final total of 218-5 looked and proved formidable.

Huntingdon made a good attempt to match the total but the Staughton bowlers always appeared in control and with Gav Barber (3-20) leading the way the best that Huntingdon could manage was 131 all out.

Hinchingbrooke/Brampton visited Sawtry III and batted soundly to record 197-5. Captain Andy Pegram (85) led from the front as he and Gary Farmer-Wright (30*) provided the backbone to the innings. Martin Wiltshire (74) did his best to take Sawtry home but Duncan McGregor (6-45) left Sawtry pointless on 188 all out.

Rutland Division 7

SOUND batting from Eaton Socon II saw them pick up the points at Ketton II after reaching 143-9.

Dominic Marchant (38*), together with Bob Nicklin (31), made sure that Socon ran up a competitive total on the damp wicket.

The Ketton batsmen struggled to impose themselves against the Socon attack, with James Johnston (3-22) proving difficult to play and were finally dismissed for 129.

Junior Cricket

EATON Socon U11s were crowned champions after they put on a great all-round performance against Castor & Ailsworth to win the Hunts County Cup.

After being put into bat, Eaton made steady progress and finally closed their innings on 283-4, with Marcus Kenmir and Joe Taylor's partnership of 28 the highlight for Eaton.

Castor were soon in trouble as Eaton's pressure in field and tidy bowling led to a number of early dismissals of which the never recovered scoring 242-10.

Marcus Kenmir was named man of the match for his performance with bat and ball. Coach Chris McKay said: "It was a great climax to the season, the lads worked hard at training sessions in both winter and early summer they deserve their success and now look forward to next week's tour to Holland."

County Match

POOR weather conditions, including a flash flood, at Neston ground failed to prevent Huntingdonshire U17s' match at Cheshire going ahead.

Hunts were asked to bat on a difficult wicket and struggled from the start losing their first wicket in the first over. It took dogged resistance from Captain Chris Budd (49) and Alex Bandaranaike (40) throughout numerous rain stoppages to reach a final total of 211.

Day two saw the start delayed by two hours and then Hunts failed to capitalise on some good bowling from Mohammed Qadeer (3-46) and Harry Chappell (2-19), dropping a number of catches to allow Cheshire to reach 249 all out and take the spoils from the first innings.