Suffolk forced into making changes

SUFFOLK are forced into making changes for their NCCA Cluberly Championship match against Cambridgeshire at Sawston & Babraham CC on Sunday, start 11am.

Adam Jones and Josh Cantrell are both unavailable and Darren Ironside injured his hand in the 119-run loss to Buckinghamshire in the opening Eastern Division One three-day fixture at Bury St Edmunds earlier this week.

Woolpit’s Kieran Pell, who has impressed in Suffolk’s white-ball sides this season, will make his Championship debut along with Nico Boje, who is the son of former South African international Nicky Boje.

Nico Boje (pictured above) has played for Copdock & Old Ipswichian in the Thurlow Nunn East Anglian Premier League, and has already represented Suffolk 2nd XI.

The left-handed opening bat is currently at university and has been playing for Leeds/Bradford UCCE as well as for Moorlands CC, who are top of the Huddersfield Premier Cricket League.

Suffolk are waiting on the availability of Ollie Burle, who missed the match versus Buckinghamshire as he was playing for Warwickshire 2^nd XI, to see if he will be required by the first-class county.

Suffolk head coach Adam Mansfield pulled no punches in the wake of Suffolk’s loss to Buckinghamshire in the rain-affected match at the Victory Ground.

Instead of their usual post-match debrief on the outfield, Suffolk’s players were kept in the changing room on Tuesday.

When Mansfield emerged, he said: “That was probably the poorest performance I have seen from us in a long, long time. The players have been told that in the changing room after the game.

“There is no point in trying to sugarcoat it – Bucks played better than us and deserved to win.”

Suffolk will need to improve their performance if they are to return from their first-ever visit to Sawston & Babraham CC with a positive result.

“Cambridgeshire are a really good team with some really good players. It will be a hard three days and we have got to go out and show how good we are,” said Mansfield.

Of Boje, whose father appeared in 43 Tests and 115 One-Day Internationals, he added: “We are excited to hand a debut to a young player who deserves his chance.”

Suffolk: Jack Beaumont (capt), Nico Boje, Ollie Burle, George Rhodes, Alex Oxley, Kieran Pell, Jacob Marston (wkt), Tom Harper, Dan Shanks, Chris Steele, Matt Wareing.

Tags: Adam Jones, Adam Mansfield, Cambridgeshire, Darren Ironside, Josh Cantrell, Kieran Pell, NCCA Cluberly Championship, Nico Boje, Ollie Burle, Sawston & Babraham CC

Categorised in: Suffolk CCC