Mildenhall 1XI travelled to Vauxhall Mallards on Saturday for traditionally one of the toughest EAPL fixtures. Vauchall Mallards are stalwarts of the division and have great strength in depth. The home side won the toss and had little hesitation in asking the Wamil Way colossuses to bat first. Joe Reed and Peter Worthington were entrusted to open the batting. Unfortunately, the opening partnership failed to deliver the runs that the away side hoped for. Reed was an early victim of Norfolk legend Bradshaw for 7 while Worthington was LBW to France (the bowler not the European county) for 12. Matt Allen came into bat at 3 but was quickly dismissed by that man France for 1. Ryan Clark the wicketkeeper batsman was promoted up the order to number 4 but was unable to repair his skippers faith on this occasion as he was dismissed by A. Todd for 7. Mildenhall's new overseas player King Koen showed glimpses of his class on his way to 14 before he became Vive Le Frances' 3rd wicket. Tom Allen had a lengthy stay at the wicket before he was run out for 2. Tom batted for 43 minutes and 32 balls before he was run out. Mildenhall's skipper Ben Shepperson has had an excellent week. Ben as a man is as "smooth as baby Jesus in velvet pants" and this smoothness and class has never been better demonstrated than in the innings he played against Vauxhall Mallards. Ben dominated this innings with his 89 from 111 balls. Ben's innings contained 14 fours and his overall innings strike rate was 80.18. We are very lucky to have such a quality player as our skipper. Ben was assisted by the veteran sheet anchor Hussain. Hussain batted for 119 minutes for his 43 which included 2 fours. This partnership was absolutely vital in ensuring that Mildenhall reached a target they could possibly defend. Shepperson and Hussain were eventually both dismissed by M. Todd. Jon Allen whose capable late order batting has been key in the last few matches remained not out on 18. Mildenhall finished with 203 all out from 64 overs. Ben France took 3-44 from his 16 overs and M. Todd took 3-45 from his 10.6 overs (surely this is 11 overs???).

Peter Worthington our Thunder from Down Under (no he is not an overseas player) bowled with superb control and accuracy early on for Mildenhall. Pete was able to dismiss Plater for 8 and Ewart for 1. King Koen dismissed the dangerous France for 1. Vauhall Mallards rallied through the batting of M. Todd (13) and De Lucchi (17) who were both eventually dismissed by Hussain. The major partnership of the innings was between L. Caswell and A. Shearer (Sheer-rar 1-0). Caswell was caught and bowled by Koen for 26 and the dangerous striker Shearer was dismissed by Tom Allen for 27 off 20 balls (including 5 4's). Koen mopped up the innings by removing Green and Stolworthy. Vauhall Mallards were eventually dismissed for 128 from 48.2 overs. Koen took 4-46. Worthington 2-11. Hussain took 3-37 and Tom Allen 1-24. This was a significant performance from the Suffolk side. In our first stint in the EAPL a win away at Vauhall Mallards would have seemed like a dream to the likes of Squire, Handy, Feltham and Grinling but now many years later the club can feel proud in where we are now and feel very comfortable that our 1XI belongs in the top league in East Anglia. Well done Ben who is growing as a player, captain and a man. Keep up the good work and never forget that a pat on the back is just 6 inches away from being a kick up the bottom (Bill Nicholson 1961 - if you don't know who he is just ask me and I'll be happy to let you know all about the greatest football manager ever).

Mildenhall 2XI took on local rivals Lakenheath at Wamil Way. Matches against our local rivals are always keenly contested and Saturday's match was no exception. Mildenhall batted first and opening the batting was hall of famer Andy Squire and Alex Wilkins. Alex took a fearful blow to the batting helmet (just thought I'd add batting to clarify) early on in his innings and never really recovered. Alex was dismissed soon after by Danny Rodic for 8. Skipper Steve Graham joined the legendary Squire and the two batsman put on a masterclass at MCC. Squire was all class throughout his innings. Squire was his customary dominate self on the leg side hitting 5 4's and a 6 in the course of his 64 before he was Bowled by Pallant. Skipper Steve Graham was less assured than his batting partner but his contribution of 61 was equally as important. Graham was also dismissed by Pallant. Taha Ahmed who has a first class batsman's mentality thought the best way to play his first ball from Pallant was to strike it hard towards midwicket...where he was caught by Adam Horrex. It could be argued that Taha is a genius with the text books and the ladies but there is no argument that he is a complete numpty with the bat. Tom Heywood was next in and next out as he was dismissed by Shaun Palmer for 6. Gabe Jones has had limited opportunities with the bat this season in adult cricket but he gave a glimpse of his potential with an innings of 31 from 40 balls. Ed Finnis (12) and Martin Taylor (10) gave the innings some late order momentum. Mildenhall finished on 200 for 8 from their 45 overs. The pitch not coming on from all accounts.  Paul Pallant took 3-61 from his 12 overs and Shaun Palmer took 3-59. Lakenheath's youth development program is still working well.

Lakenheath started well through the opening pair of Milner and Dominic Palmer. Milner was dismissed by Steve Graham for 15. Dom Palmer batted for a long time for his 29 and clearly struggled to cope with the tight Mildenhall bowling. Robbie Horrex became Gabe Jones' second wicket and Matt Heywood picked up Shane Leech for 16. Dangerous Danny Rodic provided middle order resistance with his 22 before he was LBW to Graham. Harrison Milner (scrap that previous comment about youth development) was the main contributed during the Lakenheath innings. Harrison batted with excellent composure and maturity for his 41 not out. It was Mildenhall's bowling that was the difference in the match. Steve Graham took 2-39 from his 13 overs. Martin Taylor bowled as economically as ever with 10 overs for 28 runs. Matt Heywood was excellent picking up 2-21 from his 7 overs. However, it was Gabe Jones who for the second week was the star performer with the ball. Gabe has been shown great confidence by the selectors and is repaying those selectors with interest. Lets hope that this becomes a breakout season for young Jones and his 5-67 from 15 overs is proving any doubters wrong. Keep it up Gabe.

Wins for the 3XI remain as 'rare as rocking horse poo' and this continued on Saturday. The 3XI took on Brightlingsea at Wamil Way. Mildenhall batted first. Mildenhall got off to a good start through Neil Clark (19) and Jack Horn (26). Reuben Handy (8) and Luke Turner (0) were quickly dismissed and Mildenhall looked in trouble. Andy Zajac was able to steady things with (15) but the 3XI skipper Mark Thurston was bolwed first ball for 0. Mark has been having a wretched time this season and the cricketing God's fell about laughing as he was bowled by a sneering inswinging Yorker for 0 first ball. Good on Mark for not walking off towards the river and jumping right in. It was left to my banker AKA bat supplier Gary Du Plooy to play his first major innings for Mildenhall. Gary gave some chances but scored a vital 53 not out. Martin Kingdon hit 9 runs later on but decided the last ball of the innings was so beneath him that it warranted him leaving it as if it was a piece of poorly prepared Foie Gras. Mildenhall finished on their highest total for the season 169-5 from their 45 overs.

Brightlingsea were in trouble early on thanks to the bowling on Martin Kingdon and Andy Zajac. However R. McDonald (or Ronnie to his friends) and A. English (to counteract the earlier French/France) took the game away from the 3XI. McDonald finished with 68 not out and English with 28. Martin Kingdon bowled his 15 overs 2-28 and Andy Zajac bowled 13 overs 2-57. Jack Horn was the other wicket taker. Brightlingsea reached their total from 41.4 overs. This has been a desperate season for the 3XI and confidence is very low. Despite this the skipper Mark Thurston has remained upbeat in what has frankly been a thankless task. Now that we are in the second half of the season please give as much thanks as you can to Mark as I fear he is only one ball away from a complete Reggie Perrin breakdown. Even if the 3XI look doomed lets get Mark a couple of wins to make cricketing life seem worth living!

Better news for the 4XI as they travelled to Sudbourne Hall. Mildenhall batted first and Pistol Paul Thurston and Andy Francis were into their work with some relish. Thurston was particularly savage on anything short in his 35 before he was dismissed by S. Hunt. Andy Francis has been in good form this season and that good form continued during his innings of 64. Steve Bone the most prepared number 3 in the business showed that good preparation leads to good performance as he racked up 24. Kiefer Renouf kept the innings going with his score of 32 not out. The 4XI finished on 200-6 from the 45 overs.

This proved too much for the home side as the 4XI ran out comfortable winners. Chairman Lou Handy opened the bowling and his 13 overs of swing cost only 26 runs and he took 3 wickets. Kiefer picked up 1-15. Lee Chipchase bowled 15 overs for 41 runs and took 1 wicket. Harry Butcher picked up 1-17. Max Brais picked up 2-27 and ladies skipper Kayleigh Francis took 2-9. Sudbourne Hall could only manage 144 all out from 44.4 overs. A very positive result for the 4XI.

Overall a good weekend and week on the pitch for the club and there remains a lot to be positive about. There are many people behind the scenes working tremendously hard for the good of the club and I hope that as players step out onto the pitch this coming weekend they remember they represent these hard working volunteers of the club.

"Respect for all and as in victory"...

JT