A full round-up of the weekend’s cricket action across Huntingdonshire

BRAMPTON

PETE Boardman (5-32) made sure his captain’s decision to ask Huntingdon III to bat first in Hunts 5 was justified with a good display of bowling.

Ben George (53) and a late flurry from Scott Rogers (22) took the Huntingdon score to 139. Brampton reached 60 without loss but Freddie Khan (3-26) caused the nerves to twitch before Andy Canham (52*) saw Brampton to 140-6.

ABBOTS RIPTON

IN the Cambs 5 match Little Thetford crashed to 92 all out against Ripton. Lee Smith (51*) then put them to the sword as Ripton reached 93-3 in 15 overs.

YELLING

SAM Johnson defied the March II bowling attack to help Yelling to 121 all out in the Cambs Senior 2 match.

Any thoughts of an easy passage to the points went awry when Aaron Johnson (4-31) and Thumelan Pachiappan (4-25) wrecked the top and middle order but an unbroken ninth-wicket stand of 51 got March home.

WARBOYS

UPWOOD gave Warboys II a run for their money in their Hunts 3 clash. Ryan Drage (43) was the highest scorer in Upwood’s total of 137 all out as Graham Cross returned figures of 3-9.

The Witches were made to struggle and it was Cross (41) with the bat aided by Toby Saunders (41) that secured the win at 139-8.

The following day the sides met in Rutland 7 but Upwood had by far the better of the encounter. With decent spells from Andre Goodison (57) and Jamie Hutchcraft (31) the Upwood score totalled 233-7. In reply Warboys were unable to offer up any resistance and crumbled to defeat in 18 overs at 104 all out.

Warboys met a Dean side in Hunts 1 that turned up with just eight players.

Dean opted to bat first and saw out 45 overs to reach 125-6. In a less than inspiring game, Warboys took the points at 126-5 with Ryan Humprey (37) heading the stats.

HOUGHTON & WYTON

HOUGHTON & Wyton’s winning run in Hunts 3 came to end with a 49-run defeat away to Hampton on Saturday.

Hampton won the toss and batted first, setting a challenging target of 229-8 as they dominated the bowling attack. Houghton’s reply sunk to 39-3 from 14 overs before Pete Waughman (83) rallied the visitors. However, once he was out Hampton completed a deserved win by bowling Houghton out for 180.

WARESLEY

PHIL Masdin (61*) and scores of 40-plus for Matt Rawlings, Paul Field and Steve Warman took Waresley to a comfortable 230-4 at Yaxley in Tucker 2.

There was little in the way of resistance from the home side with Terry Hayden (3-31) disposing of the top order and only 25 extras helped to get them to 146 all out.

EATON SOCON

EATON Socon cranked up the pressure at the top of Hunts I with an emphatic win over early season title pretenders Alconbury.

Visitors Alconbury found things far too hot at the Peppercorn Lane ground as Joe Dawborn (4-17) destroyed the batting line up. Ably assisted by Glen Daniels and Rag Alevoor, who grabbed three wickets each, they dispatched a dispirited and disappointing Alconbury for 58 all out.

Eaton then set about their batting task with equal gusto, rattling off the 59 runs required in seven overs for the loss of one wicket. Carl Baker crashed the bowling to the ropes and in just 24 balls had reached 38 not out.

Eaton captain Terry Day said: “Alconbury had little to offer and the lads are really up for every game. We want promotion but are chasing Newborough – the news that they had lost was icing on the cake.”

HUNTINGDON

HUNTINGDON pushed themselves back into the title chase in Hunts 1 with a remarkable win at leaders Newborough.

Chasing 214-9, they slumped to 0-2 and then 5-3 before skipper Hamza Rashid and Navid Ahmed led the recovery. Rashid (104*) completed his maiden century for the club to win the game by four wickets with help down the order from Joel Marion (38) and a hard-hit 22 from Nick Kumpukkul.

Huntingdon II lost by one run in Hunts 4 to a stronger than usual Orton Park II. Batting first Orton piled up 265 all out.

Adnan Hafiz (5-31) had the measure of the batsmen but Andy Morris (91) and some poor fielding got Orton of the hook. Huntingdon’s reply started well with a century stand for the second wicket between Dan Till (69) and Phil Wright (110). With nine runs needed in the last over, Huntingdon had a good chance but could only manage seven to end on 264-6.

FENSTANTON

ANDY Taylor and Mike Piaggesi (both 32) starred with the bat but still failed to take Fenstanton to the points against Girton II.

Girton had set a reachable target of 146 all out in the Cambs 4B match, with Danny Bowran (2-5) the pick of the Fenstanton bowlers.

The reply started poorly but good batting down the order looked likely to get Fenstanton the win. All efforts were in vain as Fenstanton were all out in the final over just three runs light at 143.

NEEDINGWORTH

NEEDINGWORTH ended their long losing run in Cambs 1 with a hard fought victory against Fordham II. Batting first they reached a competitive 215 all out, the centrepiece of which was a fine knock from Steve Mitcham (92), ably supported by Thomas Mitcham (37) and Dan Sherlock (32).

Fordham made inroads but were always just behind the required rate thanks to the efforts of debutant Olly Anthony (6-59), who displayed admirable maturity and accuracy to restrict Fordham to 210-9.

LITTLE PAXTON

PAXTON found the Bretton II batsmen in form in the Hunts 5 match at Peterborough.

Solid early batting by Bretton established a platform that allowed the score to reach 231-9 at the close of innings.

Paxton’s reply was less than fluent and only a late rally by Wayne Huttly (58*) gave the score respectability at 154-9.

ST IVES

ROB Setchell, Kevin Gilder and Bevis Moynan grabbed three wickets apiece as St Ives stifled any chances that Castor had of taking something from the Tucker 2 encounter on Saturday.

Castor were eventually all out for an unimpressive 120 in reply to the Ives score of 200-9. Will Lygo (45) and Moynan (37), along with 37 extras, were the main contributors to the score.

Ives II were even more impressive with a 169-run win against hapless Sutton. In Cambs 2 Grant Biddle (140*) continued in his rich vein of form as Ives reach a total of 245-5. Shaun Asplin (6-29) then went on a one-man mission as Sutton were hustled out for 76.

Chris Hillsden (4-58) kept Ives III in with a shout against Over who totalled 223-8. Ives reached 136-1 with Steve Baxter (59) and Ian Bryant (39) batting soundly but when they fell so did the reply as Ives finished on 191-7.

COUNTY

U17

JON Carpenter (151) and Kashaf Hussain (85) put on a first-wicket stand of 275 that saw Huntingdonshire record an emphatic win over Norfolk.

In the two-day ECB County Championship match played at Garboldisham, the home side had batted first and despite some impressive bowling by Will Lygo, Callum French and Daniel Malem still reached 315 all out from 97 overs.

What followed was the total destruction of the Norfolk bowling attack as Carpenter and Hussain went on a scoring spree. Hunts reached 317-3 to win the one innings match with ease.

U25

NORFOLK were brushed aside by a rampant Huntingdonshire side as Michael Cafferkey (111) displayed his batting powers in full at Horsford.

Norfolk’s 232-8 always looked vulnerable as Huntingdonshire skipper David McCallum (4-45) kept the lid on any efforts the home side made to break the shackles.

The loss of an early wicket in the reply brought in David Clarke (42) to join Cafferkey and the pair put together a match-winning stand of 116. Wayne Bradley (24) contributed late on as Huntingdonshire reached 233-6 with five overs in hand.

U13

HUNTINGDONSHIRE U13 opted to bat first against Hertfordshire but fell to 125 all out with Marcus Watkinson (40) and Jordan Cafferkey (26) topping the scorers.

Herts rushed to 126-2 in the 26 overs, both wickets falling to Shahab Nasiri (2-33).

Against Norfolk Andy Atkinson-Dalziel (5-38) and Shahab Nasiri (2-32) helped restrict the opposition to 191-9.

Once again the batting was out of sorts and they fell short at 165 all out despite Jordan Cafferkey (43) and Marcus Watkinson (27).

Results for the three previous matches:

Hunts 117 all out (Marcus Watkinson 30, Jacob Howe 28*), lost to Kent 121-6

Essex 239-5 (Shahab Nasiri 2-27, Marcus Watkinson 2-41) beat Hunts 115-9 (Shahab Nasiri 19*)

Surrey 253-3 (Andy Atkinson-Dalziel 2-38) beat Hunts 107 all out (Ian Donald 33, Jordan Cafferkey 22)

JUNIOR

U13

Warboys 146-7 (James Wright 52*) beat Orton Park 125-8