FEW matches have finishes as nailbiting as the one between Godmanchester Town and March Town at The Parks on Saturday – and in the end it was the visitors who took the honours to replace their hosts at the top of the TuckerGardner Premier One table.
March were set just 65 to win in as much time as they needed but the Godmanchester bowlers were clearly determined to make up for a poor batting performance and hit back in spectacular style, reducing their hosts to 43-8.
However, a ninth-wicket stand of 15 guided March gently towards the winning post and eventually they limped to victory – their winning run offering Godmanchester a dramatic run-out tied result, but the throw missed the stumps by inches.
With low cloud and a green wicket the toss was a good one to win and the March captain, Chris Ringham, put his side in to bat first. By the time they had put 10 runs on the board, Godmanchester’s first three batsmen were back in the pavilion – but a fourth-wicket partnership of 27, the biggest of the entire match, between Chethan William (17) and the captain Matt Pateman (13) suggested something of a recovery.
That was a false dawn though as wickets continued to tumble and only Martin Burton (10) of the lower order batsmen reached double figures.
The all-pace attack of the home side shared the wickets with Ringham leading the way with 5-23 from 14 overs and he was supported by Tyler Phillips (3-21) and Steve Seymour (2-15).
March lost a wicket second ball in their reply and a second wicket on 18. The next five wickets fell for the addition of just 19 runs – James Harradine dug in to top score for March with 11 and it was left to veteran John Gilson (9 not out), Tyler Phillips (8) and Ringham to ease March to the victory they had tried hard to throw away.
The visitors’ sharp fielding was a feature of the second innings and Paul Jefferson returned his best figures of the season to finish with 5-17 from 11 overs.
Ramsey’s easy win over Nassington saw them go above Godmanchester, who actually dropped to fourth after this defeat.
With the wicket looking ‘sporty’ at Nassington, the Ramsey captain, Taylor West, had no hesitation in putting the home side into bat and they started slowly only managing a single run from their first four overs with things getting progressively worse. Losing wickets to some excellent bowling from both Michael Kay and David Carlaw, Nassington were soon 3-5 and despite a bit of resistance from Harry Chappell (15) and James Trafford (13 not out) the innings never got going and eventually closed on 59 all out. David Carlaw ended with figures of 7-20 including the last three wickets as a hat-trick.
The target of 60 was never going to trouble the Ramsey batting line-up and, despite the early loss of Rob Menarry for a duck, Michael Cafferkey (19), James Markland (21 not out) and Elliot Cafferkey (10 not out) saw them home for a comfortable seven-wicket win.
Premier One newcomers Waresley are sitting comfortably in mid-table but lost their game on Saturday to Camden.
Waresley set the home side a target of 173 with openers Ian Donald (44) and Simon Donald (42) getting things off to a great start. Robert Craze (13), Phil Masdin (22) and Steve Warman (19 not out) all reached double figures as they finished their overs for the loss of just six wickets.
But, after a slow start, Keith Vincent put on a brilliant 74 and it was his innings that laid the groundwork for Camden’s four-wicket win.
A 50-knock from the captain, Bevis Moynan, wasn’t enough to stop St Ives Town losing to second-placed Wisbech Town, for whom Gary Freer hit a not out 97 and Craig Johnson took 6-44.
Warboys got back to winning ways in Premier Two with a six-wicket win over Hardwick & Caldecote.
Hardwick batted first but some tight bowling from the in-form Sam Latchford (3-30) and Matt Cooksey (3-36) restricted them to 157 when it looked like 200 was on at one stage. Warboys’ reply got off to a bad start but Dan Wright’s 66 not out and the vice-captain Matt Duncan’s 60 not out led the Witches to victory.
Eaton Socon suffered their first defeat of the new the season at this level at losing at Saffron Walden.
Batting first, Eaton were bowled out for just 69. Despite great efforts with the ball from Matt Taylor (3-11) and Ryan Worboys (3-12), Saffron won the game losing just six wickets.
HUNTINGDON & District took the honours in the big Hunts County Bats League derby when they bowled Godmanchester Town II all out for 160 as their visitors chased the target of 182.
After missing out on promotion to the TuckerGardner Premier League on the last day of the last two season, Huntingdon are desperate to finish top of the table this time around, but the new captain, Yasir Shafiq, is pretty relaxed about the way things are going right now.
“I am quite happy with the team,” he told The Hunts Post. “The whole team is playing well and at the moment it is going our way. We are very positive. We just need to be lucky as well.”
Blunham and Nassington II are above Huntingdon in the table but have bothhave played four games, Blunham winning all four and Nassington two. From their three matches, Huntingdon have scored two wins – including this Saturday’s.
Things didn’t start well for Godmanchester, who lost their captain, Kevin Clement, for nought after Huntingdon’s Kashif Mahmood Butt (37), Nikhil Kumpukkul (23), Shafiq (27 not out), Sheroon Imran (31) and Laxman Singh 23 had all made steady progress to bat out their 45 overs for eight wickets.
However, James Howells (32), Robert Howells (64) and James Leet (26) did their best for Godmanchester before the tail collapsed just 22 runs short of the target.
Jordan Cafferkey hit 93 and Matthew Slack 76 to build on opener Elliot Smith’s 38 as Ramsey II put on an excellent 276-6 in their 45 overs at home to Nassington II.
They must have thought they had done enough to win the match comfortably but some great batting from Conor Craig (41), Phil Slinn (43) and Jonathan Potter (46 not out) meant Nassington reached 247 before running out of time. Nick Page took three of the Nassington wickets for 52 runs.
Bottom-of-the-table Waresely II were beaten comprehensively by Barnack who they put into bat and failed to hold back.
Barnack finished their innings one ball short of the full 45 overs and two runs short of 200, Joe Colebrook taking three of their wickets but at the expense of 63 runs.
Despite a decent start to the chase from Russell Nicholson (23) and Jamie Fensome (21), Waresley were all out for 115 with only Thomas Baker (12) joining them on double figures.
In Division Two, Warboys II played AK XI in a high-scoring game at Buckden. AK batted first and scored 207 all out with Bradley West (4-53) and Sam Vallance (4-31) amongst the wickets. Warboys managed to chase down the total thanks to great contributions from Will England (40 not out), Connor Withers (29) and Oliver Fox (45). They reached 210-7 in the 45th over to register their first win of the new season.
Eaton Socon II had a comfortable nine-wicket win over Sawtry who were bowled out for 120 with Adam Newman taking 4-22 and Matt Keating 3-15. Eaton cruised to victory with Bob Nicklin making 54 not out.
Alconbury continue their poor run and are still without a win in Division Two from four games after dropping out of the top division at the end of last season.
This time they were beaten by Hampton, for whom Simon Bussell hit 99 before being bowled LBW by Dexter Ewing who finished the day with figures of 3-20 from 10 overs.
Chasing 217, Alconbury couldn’t get up any speed and although they saw the whole innings through, they only had 115 runs on the board after the final ball. Harry Cotton top-scored with 29.
Opener Julian Hale was not out on 70 after carrying his bat throughout Houghton & Wyton’s chase of 178. Peter Waughman also weighed in with 35 in the five-wicket Division Three win over Buckden.
SOMERSHAM II made light work of their Cambs Junior Six North opponents Wimblington II getting them all out for just 55 in 30.2 overs after posting a target of 155 for the loss of just five wickets.
Somersham made a steady start with openers Ben Austin (34) and Jon Bowland (27) laying a platform and Phil Hind, in at three, top scored with 45 not out.
The Wimblington batsmen found themselves unable to cope with Bowland’s swing and he finished with a fantastic 7-16 off his 10 overs for the 100-run victory.
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