Suffolk facing early elimination
May 5, 2026SUFFOLK’S proud record in the NCCA NV Play One Day Trophy suffered a double blow – and has left the county facing elimination at the group stage of this season’s competition.
Defeats away to Cheshire by 116 runs on Sunday and two wickets to Cumbria on Bank Holiday Monday has left Suffolk bottom of Group One.
Suffolk, who face Shropshire at Sudbury CC this coming Sunday, will need an extraordinary turn of events to reach the knock-out stages for a sixth season in a row.
They were put to the sword by Cheshire at Toft CC on Sunday, the home side posting 338 for 8 in a match reduced to 46 overs-a-side by overnight rain.
Suffolk, who were without six of the side that lost in last season’s semi-final to Shropshire, handed debuts to James Bridges and Archie Jones, but both struggled along with the majority of their team-mates.
After Arafat Bhuiyan took a wicket with the first ball of the match, Sam Perry (75) and Alex Money (89) compiled a second-wicket stand of 145 in under 25 overs.
That set the tone for the remainder of the innings, with Fred Vaughan-Hawkins and Gennaro Ready adding 104 for the sixth wicket.
Although Kieran Pell (36) and Ollie Burle (34) batted well, the stand-out performance came from captain Josh Cantrell, whose 90 came from just 64 deliveries with ten fours and three sixes.
Suffolk lost the toss again the following day at Furness CC in Barrow, where they were indebted to a patient 57 off 109 deliveries without a single boundary from Darren Ironside.
Cantrell (33) and Freddie Heldreich (35) batted well, but defending a total of 198 left the visitors with little margin for error.
Cantrell claimed three wickets as Cumbria collapsed to 58 for 5, but Maximus Winskill (50) and Drew Postlethwaite (32) added 74, before they were both dismissed with the score on 132.
That left Cumbria requiring 67 with three wickets intact and nearly 20 overs remaining, which they achieved with six overs to spare after losing just one more wicket.
Cantrell said: “It was a very disappointing trip, to be honest. We have not played our best cricket which is the most frustrating thing because yesterday (Sunday) we could have come away with a victory if we had played to our best and today’s exactly the same. It was just a couple of poor performances.”
Josh Cantrell is pictured above batting versus Cumbria during his innings of 33 after scoring 90 versus Cheshire the day previously.
Tags: Archie Jones, Cheshire, Cumbria, Furness CC, James Bridges, Josh Cantrell, NCCA NV Play One Day Trophy, Toft CC
Categorised in: Suffolk CCC