East Anglian U25 Development Championship Hunts U25 (262) beat Cambs U25 (191) by 71 runs A FINE batting performance from Godmanchester s Matt Durrant helped earn Huntingdonshire U25s victory over their neighbours. The performance wrapped up a successful

East Anglian U25 Development Championship

Hunts U25 (262) beat Cambs U25 (191) by 71 runs

A FINE batting performance from Godmanchester's Matt Durrant helped earn Huntingdonshire U25s victory over their neighbours.

The performance wrapped up a successful series for Hunts U25s, who have defeated three minor counties sides over the season.

In this fixture, held at St Ives, opener Durrant's knock of 97 laid the foundations for a comfortable win.

Durrant's fine effort came to an end just three runs short of his century when he offered a return catch to Cambridgeshire bowler Richard Hesketh.

Ollie Huggins (25) and Michael Cafferkey (22) shared in noteworthy opening stands with Durrant - the pairing with Cafferkey adding 90 for the second wicket.

David Clarke, making his return from illness, added a confident half century to move Hunts to 186-3 before the tail collapsed.

Visiting bowler Mark Bott claimed 3-53 as the home side subsided to 262 all out, 10 balls short of their 50 over allocation.

Despite the top five batsmen for Cambridgeshire all making double figures, the reply never got going. Amar Hussain and Simon Rose took wickets at regular intervals to put Hunts in command.

Visiting batsman Andy Ellis tried to revive his side's innings with a spirited 40 but once Paul Swannell had him caught by Durrant, the game was all but over.

Hunts eventually wrapped up a 71-run victory with more than five overs to spare - spinner David McCallum (3-26) and pace man Rose (3-38) were the pick of the bowlers.

Meanwhile, a number of players from the U25 side also competed for Hunts U19s in an 87-run victory against Cambridgeshire at St Ives.

Batting first, Huntingdonshire recorded an imposing 294-8 with David Clarke (92), Ben Clement (60) and McCallum (58) contributing handsomely, while the visitors conceded an expensive 40 extras.

In reply, Ellis again proved to be the mainstay of the Cambridgeshire innings, scoring 73, but three wickets for Charlie Kearns and two for Cafferkey meant the visitors recorded 207-9, 87 runs short.

Other wicket-takers for Huntingdonshire were Matt Matcham and Rose.