Flying start on record-breaking day
June 2, 2026SUFFOLK Men’s 1st XI got their NCCA Dojo T20 Group Two campaign off to a flying start on a record-breaking day.
They set a raft of new records as they inflicted back-to-back defeats on hosts Cambridgeshire at Sawston & Babraham CC on Sunday.
Suffolk, who won the toss and elected to bat in both games, won the first encounter by 37 runs as skipper Jacob Marston and Darren Ironside set a county T20 record partnership of 148 for any wicket.
Feroze Khushi then scored 106 in game two to set a new individual highest score by a Suffolk player and paved the way for a 12-run win as Suffolk bettered their highest team score set earlier in the day.
Suffolk found themselves 5 for 2 after just ten balls in the first match. Ironside was then joined by Marston, who was skippering the side for the first time.
The pair put on 148 inside 16 overs as they easily surpassed the previous record of 104 between Darren Batch and James Poulson, also for the third wicket, versus Hertfordshire at Harpenden in 2018.
Ironside’s 67 came from 47 deliveries, while Marston was out with two balls remaining after making 89 off just 55 balls. Both players registered their highest individual T20 scores in the process.
Cambridgeshire were always struggling to keep up with the required run-rate in their reply, and closed on 150 for 9, Mildenhall’s Joe Tetley top-scoring with an undefeated 37. Dan Shanks, Josh Cantrell and Ironside claimed two wickets apiece.
Khushi, who was out for a first-ball duck in game one, illustrated his class in the second match, only being caught at long on off the final ball for 106 off 64 deliveries, and in doing so becoming the first Suffolk player to bat for an entire T20 innings.
His knock saw him become only the second Suffolk player to reach three figures in a competitive T20 fixture and took him above Ben Claydon, whose 102 not out came against Lincolnshire at Ipswich School in 2022.
Khushi struck 12 boundaries and three maximums and shared in an opening partnership of 103 with Alex Maynard to eclipse the 83 made by Maynard (pictured above) and Marston versus Lincolnshire at Bourne last season.
Maynard’s 44 off 20 (6×4, 2×6) was one more than his previous best before Kieran Pell (23 off 13) pushed Suffolk towards a total of 202 for 7, easily surpassing the new benchmark set earlier in the day.
The hosts made a good fist of their reply, opener Ben Saunders scoring 80 off 49 (5×4, 4×6) before being dismissed by Dan Shanks off the final ball of the 15th over to leave them 143 for 2.
That was the first of three wickets for Shanks, who produced stand-out figures of 4-0-23-3 and only conceded six off the last over when 18 were needed.
Suffolk coach Ben Wallis said: “It is always good to get off to a good start in a competition, and these two wins put us in a great position moving forward.
“We stuck to our plans throughout the two games with both bat and ball and worked really hard in the field to limit twos to the long boundary which proved to be very important in a close-scoring second game.
“T20 cricket can turn very quickly, so it is always very nice to win close games and it really showed what a good and committed group we have.”
Of Ironside and Marston’s match-winning partnership and Khushi’s individual innings, Wallis said: “It was a pleasure to watch the two of them rebuild our innings, they both gave themselves a chance, rotated the strike really well before putting the foot down.
“I am pleased for both of them, and they should be very proud of how they played.
“After the disappointment of the first game it was great to see Feroze respond with a brilliant hundred. He showed his class, hitting multiple boundaries but what was most impressive was the intent he showed when running between the wickets. This is something that all of our lads can learn from moving forward.”
Wallis also praised Shanks, whose combined figures across the two matches of 8-0-41-5 played an equally crucial role for Suffolk, who handed a debut to Archie Miller of Copdock & Old Ipswichian CC.
“Dan was fantastic all day with the ball, and his ability to bowl to a plan and never miss his spot was the difference between the two sides.
“Playing on a ground that was very short on one side meant having a bowler of Shanks’s quality was key for Jacob (Marston) as captain,” said.
Tags: Alex Maynard, Archie Miller, Ben Wallis, Cambridgeshire, Dan Shanks, Darren Ironside, Feroze Khushi, Jacob Marston, NCCA Dojo T20, Sawston & Babraham CC
Categorised in: Suffolk CCC