Three clubs lead the way in Atkins and Crane Cup

EAST Bergholt, Hadleigh and Woolpit lead the way so far in the Atkins and Crane Cup. At the half-way point of the East Division competition, East Bergholt and Hadleigh are joint leaders with 11 points apiece, after two wins each following their head-to-head fixture being abandoned.

Highlights for Hadleigh include Matthew Kent’s 114 in the 193-run demolition of Copdock & Old Ipswichian 2nd XI and Dom Manthorpe’s 4 for 30 and unbeaten 89 as Mistley were toppled by five wickets. Sam Foster’s 118 not out with 18 fours set up a 125-run victory for East Bergholt over Copdock & OI 2 nd XI, Connor Oakley helping himself to 4 for 41 in the visitors’ innings.

East Bergholt’s Nathan Philpot, who took 3 for 28, is pictured above bowling in the abandoned match versus Hadleigh at Gandish Road. Kyle Tanner is the batsman at the non-striker’s end.

Woolpit top the West Division, with Alec Packer claiming 5 for 39 in their five-wicket win versus Long Melford and Andy Northcote top- scoring with 71 in a 26-run success against Haverhill. Dan Poole also made 71 for in that match for Haverhill and 50 in their 11-run victory over Mildenhall, despite Jon Allen’s 72 for the losers.

Long Melford, for whom Jason Harvey struck 73, prevailed against Mildenhall by 85 runs despite the efforts of Ashley Clark, who followed up his figures of 9-1-38-4 with an undefeated 84. Ipswich and East Suffolk 1st XI and Hadleigh 2nd XI are both tied on ten points at the top of the four-team Plate competition table.

Opening batsman Derek Bloomfield’s undefeated 100 off 77 deliveries steered IES to a narrow two-wicket win over Hadleigh. George Bone made 70 and Karl Mildenhall backed him up with 4-0-24-4 as IES saw off Copdock & OI 3 rd XI by 155 runs.

Hadleigh have crushed Mistley 2nd XI by 184 runs and Copdock & OI by 45 runs, opener Isaac Toombs scoring an unbeaten 113.

The competitions were named after Norman Atkins and Paul ‘Digger’ Crane, two great servants to cricket in Suffolk who both passed away earlier this year. Norman Atkins was the long-serving Chairman of both the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship and Suffolk County Cricket Club, as well as being secretary of St Margaret’s CC.

Paul Crane was a stalwart of both Browns CC and Ipswich CC as well as ‘The Colonel’ of the Ipswich Greyhound Regiment, leading them on many overseas tours.

The competition was set up by Suffolk head coach Andy Northcote, who plays for Woolpit CC, to try to salvage some competitive cricket from the season after the Two Counties Championship took the decision to call-off the season due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Cup competition will conclude with crossover matches – 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 – on Saturday, September 12th. The Plate competition will finish with 1v2 and 3v4 fixtures on the same day.

WORDS AND IMAGE – NICK GARNHAM

Categorised in: Club Cricket