Suffolk through to last eight in NCCA Trophy

June 12, 2023

SUFFOLK face a two-week wait before finding out who they will meet after becoming the first side in the country to qualify for the quarter-finals of this season’s NCCA Trophy.

Another fine all-round display saw Suffolk complete their group games with a 27-run victory over Cambridgeshire at Burwell & Exning CC on Sunday to make it three wins from their four matches.

Suffolk sit top of Group 3 but will not know whether they will finish first or second, and hence whether they will be at home or away in the last eight, until after the final round of 50-over matches are concluded in a fortnight’s time.

After being asked to bat first, Suffolk found themselves in a spot of bother at 13 for 2 and then 53 for 3, but opener Jack Beaumont (pictured batting above) anchored the innings with 73 off 105 balls with eight fours.

He featured in a stand of 56 in 15 overs with Alex Oxley, who made 33 before hitting a full toss straight to deep square leg, and then Josh Cantrell and skipper Adam Mansfield (30 off 39) added 51 for the sixth wicket in exactly ten overs.

It was then that Jacob Marston (17 off 15 deliveries) and Tom Harper (23 from just nine balls) added real impetus to the innings in tandem with Cantrell, who ended with a well-crafted 59 from 50 balls.

Cantrell and Harper struck 46 off the final 20 deliveries including 28 from the last nine to bolster Suffolk’s total to 266 for 7.

Removing openers Wayne White and Jack Potticary was always going to be key to Suffolk’s chances of success, with Potticary falling for 18 in the sixth over.

White, whose 68 occupied 107 balls, held firm until holing out to Ben Claydon running round at deep mid-on, to leave the hosts 132 for 4 off 33.2 overs.

So well did Suffolk bowl that they did not concede a single boundary between the ninth and 23rd overs as the run-rate started to climb.

Mildenhall’s Jack Loveday clubbed three sixes in his 15-ball cameo of 24, before becoming Claydon’s second victim caught behind by Marston.

When Beaumont accounted for Lee Thomason, whose 63 spanned 83 deliveries to one of two excellent catches by Harper, and Ben Cliverd was stumped by Marston off Cantrell, the game was as good as over and the home team were dismissed for 239 with five balls unused.

Claydon ended with 3 for 47 and Cantrell picked up two wickets as did George Rhodes, who played despite dislocating a finger the day before, as Suffolk held their nerve to reach the last eight.

Beaumont said afterwards: “The boys played really well. It was a tricky wicket to get a score like we did and then to graft it out in the second innings was exceptional and it put all the pressure on Cambs to hit out towards the end and the boys held their nerve.”

Scorecard

 

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