Mildenhall Cricket Club match reports for August 27^th and 28^th

Mildenhall 1^st X1 travelled to Witham to play the team that last Saturday had beaten Mildenhall’s nearest rivals Wivenhoe. Witham won the toss on a blustery day and decided they would bat first. Witham Captain Jake Wakelin and Jimmy Suett immediately set out their stall attacking the ball hard. They raced to 41, however in the 7^th over Suett (15) mistimed a hook off Kyle Morrison resulting in the ball going straight up and back down again into the safe hands of wicketkeeper Luke Youngs. Adie Chad joined Wakelin and they had added a further 50 by the 20^th over with Wakelin completing his half century. Witham had reached 129 when Wakelin pulled straight to Ben Shepperson at mid-wicket and the opener was out for a well-made 74. Three runs later Kaan Hawes was bowled by Joe Reed. Chad continued on in good form and reached his half century in the 39^th over and getting Witham, with the help of Leroy Facey, passed 150. Chad had reached 53 when he lost patience and tried to pull Hamzah Ikram, only to see the ball go straight to Reed at deep backward point. Mildenhall had by now brought the run rate down with some tight bowling backed up by some excellent fielding with the senior player in the side Peter Worthington leading the way. Facey (36) fell when he hit Steve Taylor high out to deep mid-wicket and Ikram took the catch. Morrison then picked up a third bowling point for the visitors when he bowled Carl Bragg for 9. Richard Green and Jack Sambrook added 31 in the last three and a half over to get Witham to a final score of 225 for 6. For Mildenhall Ikram took 2 for 37 while Morrison finished with 2 for 44

After tea Witham started badly when Wakelin in the slips dropped a straight forward catch off Reed in the 3^rd over. Reed (40) made the most of the missed opportunity as he cracked 7 fours and a 6 before he was given out to a leg side catch to Hawes behind the stumps with the score on 66. Luke Youngs joined Taylor and the pair put on a master class of quality batting. Witham reverted to taking the pace off the ball and softening the ball with every throw in. Taylor moved to 50 in the 25^th over and Youngs competed his half century in the 36^th over. Witham were left reeling as the pair added 131 before Youngs departed for 61, caught by Shaun Bragg off Sambrook. Taylor continued on majestically, seeing Mildenhall passed 200 with the help of Ben Shepperson. Taylor completed one of his finest inning, firstly hitting a 6 to get to his hundred (the third time he has done this this season) and then pulling Ben McKendry round the corner for 6 to win the match. Taylor remained unbeaten on 112. Mildenhall had completed a comprehensive win by 8 wickets. Mildenhall now require 13 points from their remaining two games to become Champions. Next Saturday they are at home to Hadleigh who are themselves battling against relegation.

Meanwhile at Wamil Way Mildenhall 2^nd X1 sent the statisticians reaching for their record books as they posted 334 for2 against Long Melford. Opener Taha Ahmed scored 50 before he departed leaving Steve Graham and Jon Allen to compile a partnership of 220. The young Australian Graham was finally out for a career best of 158, while Allen batted on to secure his first senior hundred by hitting the last ball of the innings for 4. Long Melford resisted long and hard enough to secure maximum batting points, closing on 208. For Melford Jason Wade top scored with 46 and Phil King made 42. Duncan Fraser and Matt Heywood took two wickets each for Mildenhall and Taha Ahmed completed his all-round performance taking 2 for 9.

Mildenhall 3^rd X1 journeyed to Wivenhoe and batting first ended on 182 for 8. James Taylor returned to form in making 63 and fellow seasoned player Martin Taylor hit 32. Taylor then turned his attention to bowling and put in a sterling performance to finish with 15 overs, 8 maiden and taking 3 for 19. Sadly all his effort failed to stem the remaining Wivenhoe batsmen. Ryan Savill made 50 while Liam Evers (33*) and J Nicholls (28*) helped the home team win to win by 5 wickets.

Mildenhall 4^th team went into action against Sudbury 3s at Mildenhall putting pressure on the Two Counties “Sportstaz” by fielding their 40^th player of the season. The visitors batted first and made 173 for 9. Jem Bayes and Lou Handy picked up a couple of top order batsmen each while star bowling performance went to Steve Bone who was returning to the side after injury, claiming 5 for 43. In reply Will Vale struck 34 and Paul Thurston hit 23. Captain Lou Handy (49*) then steered the side to victory ably assisted by Kim Hancock (10) and Connor Cobbold (4*). The side completed a 4 wicket win.

Sunday saw the first day of the Mildenhall Cricket week with a triangular tournament between Mildenhall, Ipswich and Topcroft ladies teams. A round robin of matches eventually left Mildenhall to play Ipswich in a final with the home team finishing victors. One highlight of the day saw a third Mildenhall player reach their highest score when wicketkeeper Angie Joiner Handy made 21.( Jon and Angie posed after their top score efforts)