Mildenhall 1XI welcomed Horsford to Wamil Way on Saturday. Horsford won the toss and had no hesitation in putting the home side into bat. The now established Mildenhall opening pair of Reed and Morrison was unable to provide the runs that Mildenhall have become accustomed to. Reed was out for 12 and Morrison 18. It was up to veteran Australian batsman Peter Worthington to become the rock of the Mildenhall innings. Peter came into bat at number 3 and was one of the very few batsmen to master the conditions. Peter batted 102 minutes and faced 101 balls in his vital 65. Unfortunately for Mildenhall Matt Allen (5), Luke Youngs (2), Ben Shepperson (6) and Jack Loveday (5) all came and went quickly. Tino Best contributed a quick fire 15. However, a vital late order stand between Hussain and Jon Allen was able to get the score up to an air of respectability for Mildenhall. Hussain finished with 24 not out and Jon with 10 not out. Neither batsman hit a boundary but they were able to ensure that Mildenhall had at least something to bowl at. Mildenhall finished on 169 for 8 off their 64 overs. For the away side Findlay was the main destroyer with the ball. Findlay picked up four Mildenhall wickets for 31 runs off his 18 overs. There were also wickets for Futter, Nudd, Metcalf and C. Reed.
Mildenhall’s total proved to be too much for the Norfolk side as they were never really in the hunt to chase down the total. There were early wickets for Hussain and Best. Only Crowe (14), Marillier (16) and Findlay (33) showed any early resistance with the bat. Brown (14) and Smith (18 not out) were able to contribute some late order runs. It was Hussain and Reed that blow the heart out of the Horsford batting line up. The Wamil Way surface is not known as a raging turner but spin was the difference maker in this fixture. Hussain with his best performance for Mildenhall bowled 18 overs, 8 maidens, 5 wickets for 34 runs. All-rounder Reed 13.3. overs, 2 maidens, 3 wickets for 29 runs. Spinner Jack Bowman also took a wicket later on. Luke Youngs collected a couple of stumping’s for Mildenhall. Horsford finished on 119 all out in a low scoring affair. This was another excellent win for the Mildenhall side, next up a local derby away at Sudbury. Hopefully we can encourage some of our supporters to make the journey to the other side of Suffolk.
Cream always rises and there is no cream fuller or of better quality than Mildenhall Hall of Famer Andrew Squires. Mildenhall’s best ever batsman demonstrated yet again all of his quality in the 2XI away fixture against Copford. Mildenhall batted first against the home side and Squiz and Adam Trett were soon into their work. Unfortunately Trett was the first to go bowled Ahern for 23. Captain Steve Graham came to the crease but was unable to make the large impact that he would have liked. Graham was dismissed for 16. Tom Allen got a start but again was unable to go on as he was dismissed for 14. It was Eddie Finnis that provided some devastating hitting towards the end of the Mildenhall innings. Finnis was smashing it to all parts in a quick fire 37. It was Squiz though that will take all the plaudits from the Mildenhall innings. Squiz finished on 113 not out from the Mildenhall total of 232.
Copford made a decent fist of the run chase thanks to contributions from Sinclair (77), Ahern (42), Helmer (25) and Northover (25). If only Godley had got some runs and yours truly could have made some obscure reference to Godley and Creme…I’ll let that one settle for a second well the younger readers ask their Mum/Dads who Godley and Creme were. I will also avoid explaining how 10CC got their name. Anyway, moving on. Steve Graham and veteran Martin J. Taylor kept things tight early on. Graham bowled 9 overs 1 wicket for 38 while Taylor went for only 56 off his 15 overs. Tom Allen took 2 wickets from his 12 overs. Matt Heywood and Duncan Fraser were the other wicket takers with two each. Copford finished on 212 for 7 wickets from their 45 overs.
They said it couldn’t/shouldn’t/wouldn’t ever happen but it did! Mildenhall 3XI won a game. Travelling to Hadleigh the away side batted first and again things look very bleak at one stage for the under pressure Wamil Way side. Clark and Andy Francis were both out relatively early and both for 9 runs. Tom Heywood couldn’t make much of an impact with the bat as he was out for 11. Skipper Mark Thurston was unlucky to be dismissed for 0 to a very dubious LBW decision. It was left to James Taylor to scrimp out some runs to make some respectability to the overall total. Taylor managed 40 before he was victim of another LBW decision. Young Cameron Francis looked in great form with a very fine 24 not out to help Mildenhall push the total beyond 100. Francis batted extremely well with recovering Andy Youngs (13 not out). However at the half way point in the game a score of 135 (albeit on a very poor surface) look short.
Hadleigh couldn’t cope with the skill and tight bowling of Martin Kingdom (12 overs 2 wickets for 17 runs) and the devastating pace of Tom Hewywood. Heywood ripped into the heart of the Hadleigh batting and won the game for the 3XI. Heywood finished with figures of 7.5 overs 6 wickets for 22 runs). Andy Zajac bowled 9 overs 1 wicket for 28 runs and Gabe Jones bowled 10 overs 1 wicket for 34 runs. It was an exceptional performance in the field and with the ball. Andy Youngs took a fantastic catch to get rid of the dangerous Wiles (42) but the performance of the match/season came from Tom Heywood. He could be the catalyst to change the 3XI season around.
Mildenhall ladies romped towards their league title with another comprehensive win on Sunday. Bowling first the ladies restricted Woolpit to 81 from their 35 overs. Only Samuels (26) scored double figures for the away side. Fliss Cleverley was her normal restrictive self, Fliss bowled 7 overs for 13 runs taking 1wicket. The main wicket takers were Megan Arnold and Captain Kayleigh Francis. While Kayleigh’s finance Mark was singing about ‘Sacrifice’ and being a ‘Rocket Man’ Kayleigh was enjoying bowling with great success. Kayleigh took 3 wickets for 13 runs off her 7 overs. Megan also took 3 wickets during her spell. The total of 81 was never going to prove too taxing for the dangerous ladies batting line up.
And so it proved. Mildenhall knocked off the runs without losing a wicket. Pippa Palmer (24) and that lady with my favorite name in cricket Sheldon Ford Keeble of SFK for short scored the required runs from 11.5 overs!!!SFK finished with another half century (54 not out) to take her average to a beyond Bradman-esque 180 for the season. A dominating performance from the ladies who march on. The early finish allowed the ladies watch a different type of batting on the main square.
Mildenhall Sunday 2XI took on bottom of the table Rougham at Wamil Way. The home side bowled first and soon had Rougham in trouble. Early wickets from RVO and Captain Steve Ready put Rougham on the back foot. RVO bowled 10 overs 1 wicket for 17 runs while Steve bowled 10 overs 2 wickets for 24 runs. After the opening burst the batsmen found life slightly easier. George Howard picked up 2 wickets in his 4 overs and there was a wicket for ‘Disco’ Dan Turner and Jack Horn. Late order batting from the Bonus boys (or Father and Son in this case) lifted the total to 166 which was probably 20 runs more than they should have got.
The Sunday 2XI had nothing to worry about though as the total was chased with some ease. Jack Horn hit a superb 44 in no time to get the innings off to a great start. Kiefer Renouf was the rock of the 2XI batting. That’s right, read it carefully Kiefer was the rock of the innings. Kiefer batted through for 41 not out. Mildenhall reached their target in 33.4 overs. Kiefer was supported by James Taylor who was making a rare appearance on the Sabbath. It was a case of while the cat’s away for Taylor (sorry Christine) and he made Rougham pay. Taylor finished on 68 not out to see Mildenhall home with plenty of balls to spare. A fine performance from the young Mildenhall side and a very positive way to end a great weekend for the club.
JT
As in victory…