Mildenhall 1XI hosted Great Witchingham from Norfolk in the latest round of EAPL matches. Unfortunately Mildenhall lost the toss and were asked to bat first in very friendly bowling conditions. Squire was the first batsman to be dismissed when he was LBW to Spelman. Matt Allen's stay at the crease was almost as brief as the legendary Suffolk batsman when Spelman dismissed him also for a duck. Skipper Worthington at least managed to get off the mark before he was dismissed for 4. King Koen made a valiant attempt to rescue the innings. Koen applied himself in the difficult conditions making 25 from 44 balls before he was removed. Shepperson was stumped for 0. WK Ryan Clark was able to make 1 before he became Handby's third wicket. Tom Allen should some fighting qualities in his innings of 20 from 60 balls. Tom was Handby's third wicket. The not out kings Hussain and Jonny Allen were dismissed for 4 and 0. Jack Loveday was dismissed for 0. Jack Bowman was able to hang around for 8 not out. For Great Witchingham Handby took 3-17. Spelman took 3-22 and their were wickets for Jones (1) and King (2). Mildenhall were bowled out for a paltry 73 from 30.4 overs.
Their was early success for Mildenhall when Tom Allen trapped James Spelman LBW for 4. Athurton (33 not out) and Hale (36) took the match away from Mildenhall. Hale was the only other wicket for Mildenhall when Hussain had him stumped by Clark. Great Witchinham won the game at a canter and ended a disappointing day for the home side very early. A tough loss for Mildenhall but the 1XI will be looking to bounce back in style next week when they take on local rivals Bury St. Edmunds in a tasty Suffolk derby.
The 2XI made the long journey to Coggeshall. Mildenhall batted first. Heywood was the first batsman dismissed for 6. Big Jim Allen bludgeoned his way to a breezy 32 before he had his stumps demolished in a manner similar to Euron Greyjoy battering into his niece's boat (sorry for the GOT spoiler if you haven't seen it yet). Skipper Steve Graham continued his all round form as he made a cultured 58 before he was run out. Gabe Jones had a brief stay at the crease. Alex Wilkins is a much improved player and his star continues to rise in the 2XI. Alex made 46 before he was another run out victim. Luke Turner batted. There were no other major contributions during the Mildenhall innings. Mildenhall finished all out on 178 from 39.3 overs. For the home side G. Blackwell took 2-44 and W. Blackwell took 4-27. Coggeshall began their innings but only batted for 3 overs before the rain came down hard and made a result impossible. As Jigsaw AKA Jon Kramer said famously "Game Over".
Everyone's favourite 3XI (well mine anyway) travelled to St. Margarets. St. Margarets batted first and found it very difficult to score runs on a tough pitch. The economical Kingdon struck early removing Allen for 4. Kiefer Renouf off his shorter run has had a productive run with the ball. Kiefer picked up the wickets of Natarajan for 16 and Stevens for 4. Kingdon picked up another wicket when he bowled Storey for 0. It was about this time that committee member/press secretary James Taylor very politely approached his skipper and enquired whether he could perhaps have a little bowl during the game. The response from the skipper was to ask Taylor to quickly move himself to another area of the pitch. That is the PG version of the actual conversation. The full R-rated version is available as a podcast from Mark Thurston. Renouf grabbed another two wickets when he removed the charismatic Mutton for 7 and the innings mainstay J. Beaumont for 43. St. Margarets innings rallied late through contributions for Surana 16 and Woodward 14. Beaumont played a fantastic Captain's knock and his innings may well have saved the game for the home side. St. Margarets finished on 135 all out from 42.1 overs. Martin Kingdon was outstanding for Mildenhall. Killer bowled 15 overs, 10 maidens, 16 runs and 3 wickets. Kiefer bowled 12.1 overs taking 4-31. There were also wickets for Du Plooy and Taylor (cough). I did find new respect for bowlers on Saturday. Although I only bowled 18 balls I can tell you I was absolutely exhausted after ball...4. A new fitness regime begins today, I just need to finish this report and this wonderful Danish platter that I've just bought myself.
Mildenhall started well enough through Clark and Thurston. Thurston was dismissed on 10 when he attempted a drive on the poor St. Margarets pitch. Cruickshank (5), Du Plooy (0) and Taylor (5) were all dismissed rapidly. Neil Clark showed some of his old form and touch during his innings of 31 before he was caught off a rising deliver from Oakley. Renouf (14) and Parker (7) were the not out batsman with the score at 79 for 5 off 25.1 overs. There were wickets for St. Margarets from Beaumont, Woodward and Oakley. A close game and the 3XI really competed well. Next week they face their nadir in the form of Walsham-Le-Willows (gulp).
The 4XI match was abandoned during to a waterlogged pitch.
Mildenhall Sunday 1XI took on Battisford. Mildenhall batted first. Youngster Ben Brown was an early wicket. Oakley Colby and Steve Graham got the Mildenhall innings moving. Oakley was dismissed for 43. Steve pushed on and scored another 50 before he was out for 54. There were contributions from Jack Loveday (25) and Ash Clark (26). Recently engaged Disco 'remove the ring' Turner (real men don't wear sparkles lad!!) was dismissed for 0. Wickets were shared between Skinner (another former WWE character), Alderton (a former teacher/actor...that will go right over the heads of the young), Peacock (a type of bird), Webb (a thing Spiders do) and Richardson (Queen Vic in Blackadder). Mildenhall were all out for 176 from 37.4 overs giving Battisford a chance to win the game...
But they didn't. In fact Battisford fell well short of the target as they were all out for 128 from 34 overs. Most of the Mildenhall bowlers had a very good day but Oakley Colby had an amazing day. Oakley bowled 10 overs taking 5 wickets for 30 runs. Skipper Graham picked up 2 wickets as did Ash Clark. Maddox Colby completed the Dynasty (ha ha - I just laughed at my own joke there. Points for anyone who got that joke - hint think 1980's big hair, big shoulder pads and a poor man's Dallas) when he also took a wicket. A good solid performance from a young Mildenhall side.
More good news (and hopefully less use of brackets and laughing at my jokes - whoops) the Sunday 2XI battled Thurston and came out on top. Thurston batted first. Mayhew was the major contributor with his 56. Lovell scored 27 and Bent (no laughing) scored 22. Wickets were shared between Steve Ready (3), Renouf (1), Kayleigh (3) and Boarders (1). The one batsman I would like to take up an issue with is the Thurston batsman number 8. He couldn't even be bothered to give a full first name and is just down on the scorecard as 'G'. Listen lad you are not Prince and therefore you are not to be known as a initial or a Symbol. You are also not an NCIS agent at least he has the decency to go by G. Callen. So very lazy. Anyway back on track, Thurston finished with 161 for 9 off their 40 overs.
Mildenhall chased the runs down with little trouble. Kiefer opened and scored a quick fire 26. RVD, sorry quick type I meant RVO scored 6. Connor Gobbold scored 5 and Owen Grinling didn't score any I'm afraid. Papa Grinling did have a little bowler feast though. Steve finished on 77 not out and Matthew Parker 31 not out. Mildenhall winning the game for the loss of 4 wicket from 33 overs.
As in victory.
JT