Suffolk hold their nerve to record two wins

June 16, 2026

SUFFOLK Men’s 1st XI held their nerve to record back-to-back victories over Lincolnshire in the NCCA Dojo T20 competition.

They won both matches at Hadleigh CC on Sunday by 25 runs and nine runs respectively to stay in the hunt for a Super 12s spot despite a four-point deduction for fielding an unregistered player.

The good-sized crowd that gathered to see the Men’s 1st XI play at Friars Road for the first time witnessed two well-contested close matches.

Former Essex star Feroze Khushi made it back-to-back centuries in the competition with an undefeated 108 (8 x 4, 25 x 6) off just 62 deliveries in the first match.

He featured in a record second-wicket stand of 102 for Suffolk with Darren Ironside, dwarfing the landmark of 67 set by Jake Foley and Adam Ball versus Cambridgeshire at Peterborough in 2018.

Ironside fell for a well-made 38 off the penultimate ball of the 14th over, but Khushi guided Suffolk to 181 for 5 after Dan Shanks, skippering the side for the first time, had won the toss.

After Lincolnshire lost four wickets for 46 inside the opening six overs of their reply, the visitors were always up against it, and despite an attractive 56 from Pranav Pothula, ended on 156 for 9.

Off spinner Tom Harper, in his first outing this season following a broken finger, took two wickets in two balls in the 14th over and finished with 3 for 33, while Freddie Cloud took 3 for 34.

Shanks again won the toss and opted to bat in the second match, Khushi this time falling to an athletic one-handed catch on the mid-wicket boundary by Freddie Gosnell for just seven.

Alex Maynard (32 off 22) and Ironside (29 off 23) pushed on, but the dismissal of Kieran Pell left the hosts 81 for 4 from 11.1 overs when Alex Oxley (pictured above) was joined by Ollie Burle.

After a watchful start, Oxley (47 off 32) and Burle (41 off 30) added an undefeated 89 for the fifth wicket, with 65 runs coming from the final four overs.

Gosnell (52 off 40) and captain Nick Keast, who ended 91 not out, shared an opening partnership of 104 off 12.1 overs.

With 35 needed from the final three overs with seven wickets still standing, Lincolnshire looked favourites.

Cloud returned to the attack to remove Pothula, and 12 runs were required off the final over to be bowled by Shanks, whose first four deliveries balls went for two runs before two wickets off the final two sealed the win.

The win lifts Suffolk, who had the four points for beating Cambridgeshire twice for fielding an unregistered player, up to third in the Group Two table ahead of facing leaders Norfolk at Sprowston on Sunday.

 

Scorecards

Match 1

Match 2

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