Godmanchester Town make light work of Ramsey at the Parks

GODMANCHESTER Town strolled to their best ever Cambs & Hunts Premier League victory over neighbours Ramsey whose batting performance was abysmal at the Parks on Saturday afternoon.

Only 16-year-old batsman Jordan Cafferkey produced anything like the performance his side needed as his more experienced team-mates wore a regular path back to the pavilion.

Having lost four of their five scheduled home fixtures to the weather, Goddy’s opening bowlers really made up for lost time by blowing away the top seven Ramsey batsmen for just 36 runs in just over an hour.

Kevin Clement recorded his best figures of the season (four for 20 in 13 overs) and Adam Rendall weighed in with the other three wickets.

Clement told The Hunts Post: “It was a good wicket – on it, if someone had offered us Ramsey for 60 runs before the game, we would have snatched their hand off.

“The wicket suited our bowling attack with myself keeping it tight and Adam quicker – but, to put it in perspective, our batsmen Deepak Chougule and Wayne Bradley were excellent on it.”

Ramsey lost the toss and were invited to bat first and were soon in trouble. Only Simon Cafferkey (11) reached double figures as the wickets tumbled and at 36 for seven the visitors looked down and out.

Jordan Cafferkey then took on the bowlers with Sam Rippington and the pair added 18 for the 10th wicket – the best stand of the innings.

However, Laurie Marsh replaced Rendall to claim the wicket of Adam Taylor before Wayne Bradley needed just four balls to polish off the last two wickets at no cost to himself.

Needing just 61 to win, Deepak Chougule was soon on his way to a faultless 32 not out at the top of the order and although he lost opening partner Adrian Lemmon, this just brought in the in-form Bradley who needed just 12 balls to amass 23 not out, including a winning six to finish off the match.

It was current champions Ramsey’s third heavy defeat on the trot but it gave Godmanchester their fourth victory of the season.

Clement said: “We have been playing good cricket but, despite Saturday’s result, our bowling isn’t as strong as it was last year.

“We obviously want to win every game we play but we have to be realistic.”

Meanwhile, Robert Setchell had an outstanding bowling spell of five for 25 as St Ives kept up their chase of Foxton, Wisbech Town and Sawston above them when they beat strugglers Nassington at home.

Setchell achieved his figures in 10 overs as the visitors chased their total of 159. Middle order batsman Ryan Withers had top scored with 42 for St Ives and Bevis Moynan added to Setchell’s haul with another four wickets for 26 as Nassington fell for just 84.

“I seemed to get a bit more movement off the seam on Saturday, which is encouraging seeing as the pitch wasn’t bad for batting at all,” said Setchell.

“It was good to get some wickets but it was a really strong performance by the whole bowling unit. We probably set a below-par score but the bowlers made sure that the pressure was never on us and constantly on the batsmen.

“We will always back our attack to bowl teams out – especially on Saturday when we had three front-line seamers and three spinners at our disposal.

“We’ve just got to establish some consistency now because we know we can beat any team in this league.”

Cambs & Hunts Prem 2

WARBOYS won their big TuckerGardner Premier Two derby against visitors Waresley by just one wicket.

Paul Field (57) and Dominic Farr (40) were Warseley’s top scorers as they put on a total of 168.

Despite Ernie Neville taking five of Warboys’ wickets for 37, the home side hit 171 after building on Zak Harvey’s opening 59.

The result means Warseley are second in the table behind Cambridge NCI while Warboys sit comfortably in fourth, just three points below Newborough and two ahead of Fordham.

CCA Junior 2A

NEEDINGWORTH consolidated their position at the top of the Cambs County Junior 2A Division with a thumping win at Pymoor on Saturday.

A tough day looked in store for Needingworth when Pymoor opener Laurens Herschelman smashed 20 runs in the opening over.

But Herschelman’s dismissal was the trigger for a spectacular collapse and from 60 for one, Pymoor were 84 all out with Dan Sherlock taking four for 36 and Mohsin Khurshid a brilliant fouR for five.

James Baldock (25 not out) and Dan Sherlock (41 not out) shared on an unbroken partnership of 55 to guide the visitors home with nine wickets and 20 overs to spare.

CCA Minor League

NEEDINGWORTH II couldn’t make it three wins in a row in the CCA Minor League but worked in their defeat against visitors Histon III.

Batting first, Histon found life tough and were eventually bowled out for 141 with father and son duo Glenn (six for 14) and Joe Morris (two for 26) leading the home attack.

In reply, Needingworth’s batsmen found it no easier and although there were good starts from Joe Morris (16), Glenn Morris (23) and Jamie Neve (24), no-one was able to go on and play a winning innings. The home side were eventually all out for 102 to lose by 39 runs.

HUNTINGDON & District are up to second in Division One of the Hunts County Bats League after beating Waresley II on Saturday, while Alconbury, who dropped off the top of the table last week, continue their slide and are now in fourth.

Hamza Rashid was the star man for Huntingdon with the bowler finishing the game against Waresley II with figures of 25 for three from 11 overs after hitting 59 in their comfortable win. And now the captain hopes his team’s season can get going after such a slow start with three games cancelled.

“That’s why we were behind the other teams,” said Rashid. “We are playing alright and we always surprise – but our problem has been the cancelled games.

“If we can play all of our games then the aim is to win all our games.”

After missing out on promotion to the Tucker Gardner Premier Two Division at the end of the last – when Warboys pipped them to the post on the last day – that message must be considered a warning to the rest of the teams in Hunts One.

Waresley lost the toss but were asked to field and the Huntingdon openers got of to a cracking start with Nik Kumpukkul (20) and Mohammed Iqbal (46) having good knocks.

Phil Gillett was brought on and removed both of the openers in quick succession and the introduction of Pat Ellerbeck reduced the run rate with Waresley gradually picking up wickets as the scoreboard ticked over. However, Waresley struggled to contain Rashid who hit out with some cavalier batting as Huntingdon’s lower order managed to get the total up to a daunting 224 for eight.

Waresley lost two early wickets, before respectable partnerships between Chris Pierce and Steve Lewis, and Gillett Charlie Lewis, gradually chipped away Huntingdon’s total.

Pierce was eventually out for 56 before some late knocks from Jim Keys and Owen Griffths saw Waresley reach a respectable 178 for eight.

Elsewhere, against the leaders, Ufford Park, Alconbury stumbled to 33 for four on a damp wicket before consecutive partnerships from their strong middle order of Gary Cole (37), Dex Ewing (36) and Syd Davis (23 not out) helped them reach 159 for eight from their 45 overs.

Two early wickets saw Ufford in slight trouble, but a shortage of Alconbury bowlers resulted in an unbroken partnership of 146 between Andy Larkin (67 not out) and their captain Ross Keymer (60 not out) as the visitors went home with a comfortable eight-wicket victory.

Eaton Socon moved up to third with a comfortable seven-wicket win over Barnack.

After winning the toss and batting first, Barnack were dismissed for just 88 thanks to some fine bowling from Ben Gowling (four for 26) and Chris Box (three for 19).

Eaton knocked off the runs in 15.3 overs to earn maximum points. Matt Rawling (28), Carl Baker (25), and Namal Senaviratna (23 not out) made sure they got home easily.

Godmanchester II are fifth after beating Ramsey II by 20 runs.

Goddy set Ramsey a target of 188 with James Howells hitting 48 and Charlie Cook 43.

Then Howells took three for 37 as they restricted Ramsey to 168, despite Pete Youds’s 44 and Edward Manchett’s 45. Mohammed Rahman, James Leet and Chris Bollom all got two wickets each for Goddy.

Hunts 2

EATON Socon II had their lower order to thank for their win over Sawtry in Division Two of the Hunts County Bats League.

Batting first, Eaton were in trouble at 68 for six – but Tom Banks (37), Dan Newman (36) and Simon Cooper (32 not out) helped them get to 189 for eight.

Sawtry got off to a solid start reaching 81 for one before collapsing to 147 all out with Newman taking three for 23 and Banks and Macaulay Clark picking up two wickets each.

Houghton & Wyton won by 22 runs in their home match against Old Eastonians.

Visiting bowler James Covill took six of Houghton’s wickets but Stephen Jeffs 91 and Michael Piaggesi 75 were excellent and the Eastonians could only manage 219 compared to Houghton’s 241 from their 45 overs.

Hunts 3

LIAM Gaynor’s maiden 100 and six wickets for Adnan Hafiz gave Huntingdon & District II a comfortable win over Bharat Sports in Division Three of the Hunts County Bats League.

Huntingdon racked up 227 for eight in their 45 overs with Gaynor top scoring with 131.

Bharat Sports batted aggressively but were skittled out for just 112 with Hafiz in fine form and Ben George getting two wickets as well

Ickwell were all out for 91 to give Warboys II a simple task. Chris Newton (three for 16) and Matt Lavender (three for 31) took the edge off the Ickwell batting attack – but once again Warboys gave away far too many extras: 25, which was even a better tally than any of the Ickwell batsmen achieved.

In a flurry of boundaries, the Warboys openers Chris Hoy (16 including three fours) and Conor Withers (27 including four fours and a six off 13 balls) established the team’s superiority and only two more batsmen were needed to win the game.

Daniel Hyde’s 19 not out consisted almost entirely of boundaries with three fours and a six.

Buckden were given a seven-wicket thrashing by Caister & Ailsworth after reaching 147 for five.

Despite Stephen Cox getting all three of Caister’s wickets, the home side made light work of the total, hitting 151 in just 29 overs.

Upwood beat Biggleswade by 183 runs at home with David Drage hitting 102 before being run out as they set a target of 267. Neil Tuffin took four wickets for three runs with the visitors all out for just 84 in 31.4 overs.

Hunts 4

BRAMPTON lost again when they Orton Park were their visitors in Hunts County Bats Division Four. Brampton were 19 for three but a mini fight back from Andy Watts (33) and John Parker (24) helped steady the ship.

However, once Watts and Parker were dismissed, it was only a matter of time before Brampton’s innings was over with just 122 run on the board.

Brampton’s bowlers got off to a good start with four quick wickets to leave Orton struggling at 39 for four.

But there was to be no more wickets and the visitors got over the line in the 32nd over. Duncan McGregor finished with figures of three for 32 in 10.4 overs with Raj Islam getting his first wicket for the club.

Ramsey III beat Shai Sports by five wickets after chasing down their total of 151 with Sam Rippington getting four for 36, Elliot Smith 47 and James Markland 66.

Hunts 5

BUCKDEN II beat Great Staughton by 197 runs in Division Five after posting an almost impossible target of 310.

Alex Marsh got 79 and Lawrie Marsh was on 96 when he was caught by Bob Jewell. Simon McCutcheon hit 59 and there was still a wicket spare when the 45 overs were up. Trevor Mews took four for 27 as Staughton struggled in reply and in the end they were all out for 113 in 32.2 overs.

Upwwod II were beaten by Khalsa II by 25 runs in the same division.