Skipper ‘immensely proud’ of Over-70s

September 21, 2022

SUFFOLK Over-70s skipper Neil Hames said he was ‘immensely proud’ of his side, even though they lost their National 70+ County Cricket Championship Final to Kent.

Their opponents, the only side to inflict a loss on Suffolk in the group stage of the competition, won last Thursday’s final by 38 runs at the Polo Field Ground in Hutton near Brentwood.

Suffolk won the toss and inserted Kent, who posted 188 for 6 in their 45 overs. Opening bowlers Dave Hinchcliffe (9-4-19-1) and Hames (9-0-31-1) both bowled tightly.

Ken Jones, who came on second change, produced the best figures of 9-1-36-2 as Chris Swadkin top-scored for Kent with 67 off 73 balls before being stumped by Gerry Baglow off Peter Webb.

Suffolk found runs hard to come by in their reply, with all the top-order struggling to get the ball away, resulting in the run-rate creeping up.

The loss of three wickets in the space of 26 balls saw Suffolk slip to 75 for 6, before Webb (24 off 52 balls) and Peter Christie (20 off 33) shared an unbroken stand of 56 for the eighth wicket.

They had come together with the total on 94 for 7 in the 33rd over and enabled Suffolk to reach 150.

The Suffolk Over-70s side that lost in the final to Kent are pictured above while (top) Suffolk’s Rob Jenkin is pictured batting above during his innings off 22 before falling lbw.

Skipper Hames said: “Although we lost the final I am immensely proud of the way the team has performed during the season.

“I won the toss and asked Kent to bat, due to tight bowling by all six bowlers and one of our best fielding performances we managed to restrict Kent to 188 for 6 off their 45 overs.

“Unfortunately we lost two early wickets from which we did not recover, our batting in depth has been our strength this year but no batsman could get on top of the Kent bowlers.

“It was disappointing not to get closer to the target, however overall it has been a season to remember as we have played 14 won, 12 and lost just two.

“Every player has played their part in our success. In addition we have a tremendous team spirit which enabled us to win games when a loss was on the cards.”

 

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