Suffolk secure their top-flight status
August 19, 2025SUFFOLK secured their top-flight status for another season after a resounding 191-run victory over Lincolnshire in their final NCCA Cluberly Championship match of the season.
Knowing that victory would most likely be enough to ensure another season in Eastern Division One, Suffolk achieved their goal in style, after dominating for large periods of the three days.
The visitors set Lincolnshire 349 to win in a minimum of 83 overs on the last afternoon at Cleethorpes CC on Tuesday, and wrapped up victory soon after tea when Chris Steele took two wickets in two balls as they were bowled out for 157.
Suffolk picked up the maximum 24 points on offer, which sent them to the top of the table, three points ahead of Buckinghamshire and a further ten in front of Staffordshire.
With Suffolk having completed their fixtures and the other four sides in the division all having one match to play, it would take something extraordinary to happen for Suffolk to win the title.
Suffolk piled up 368 for 8 declared off 88 overs after winning the toss on the opening day. After captain Jack Beaumont fell for 42, Suffolk advanced to 91 for 1, before a mini-collapse pegged them back to 115 for 5.
Ollie Burle and Jacob Marston (59) then added 108 for the sixth wicket and Burle and Freddie Heldreich, whose 68 not out was his highest score yet for Suffolk, put on 80 for the seventh.
Burle was then trapped lbw for 95 – his second successive score in the nineties – after facing 206 deliveries and scoring eight fours and one six.
Lincolnshire were bowled out for 247 in reply, although Suffolk’s first-innings lead was whittled away by a last-wicket stand of 88 before Tom Keast dragged on for 94.
Tom Harper (pictured above), who had earlier scored 34 off just 25 balls before Suffolk declared, claimed figures of 19-5-73-4.
Suffolk made a disastrous start to their second innings, sliding to 15 for 3, but Burle (64) and Alex Oxley (69) shared a fourth-wicket alliance of 140 before they declared on 227 for 9.
The hosts got off to a rip-roaring start, with 49 coming off the opening eight overs, but once Suffolk made the initial breakthrough the result never looked in doubt.
The spinners took the first eight wickets to fall – Harper claimed four more and Beaumont, who bowled opener Nick Keast with a beauty for 62, and George Rhodes, who took a superb diving caught and bowled, two apiece.
Suffolk coach Adam Mansfield said afterwards: “The boys were excellent and it was a fantastic way to finish the season.
“Three-day wins are hard to get, and we fully deserved the win.”
Tags: Alex Oxley, Chris Steele, Cleethorpes CC, Freddie Heldreich, George Rhodes, Jack Beaumont, Jacob Marston, Lincolnshire, NCCA Cluberly Championship, Ollie Burle, Tom Harper
Categorised in: Suffolk CCC