Suffolk fall agonisingly short

August 4, 2026

SUFFOLK Men’s 1st XI suffered an agonising 16-run loss to Buckinghamshire in their NCCA Cluberly Championship Eastern Division One match at Chesham CC on Tuesday.

Although Darren Ironside (pictured above), who top-scored with 55 in Suffolk’s second innings said it was ‘pretty disappointing’ not to win, the match was a terrific advert for three-day National Counties cricket.

The contest ebbed and flowed throughout and was in the balance right up until Dan Shanks was bowled by opposition skipper and slow left-armer Connor Haddow, who finished with figures of 34-10-71-6.

Suffolk went into the match with two changes from the advertised side, professional Feroze Khushi dropping out with a bad back and James Bridges through unavailability due to university exams.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Bucks were in trouble as they lost seven wickets for 127 by lunch on day one.

They were eventually bowled out for 207 off 71.2 overs, with Chris Steele, Freddie Cloud (a late call-up along with Freddie Heldreich), Tom Harper and Josh Cantrell taking two wickets apiece.

Suffolk steadily lost wickets in their reply and limped to 123 for 8 at the close, and it took a last-wicket stand of 48 to reduce the deficit to 32 on first innings.

Both Shanks and Steele made their top scores for Suffolk of 39 not out and 10 respectively as the visitors were dismissed in just 43.5 overs two runs shy of a first batting point for 173.

Dan Shanks, who had a fine match with both bat and ball for Suffolk

Suffolk then bowled out the reigning champions for 182 in 61.1 overs, Ewan Cox again top-scoring with his second half-century of the match to rescue Bucks from 67 for 5 in a stand of 70 with Rhys Nicholas.

Skipper Jack Beaumont returned figures of 16-11-16-4 and Shanks finally got his reward for some equally outstanding bowling in which he continually passed the edge with 3 for 41.

Suffolk made a solid start in pursuit of their 215 victory target in four sessions, openers Beaumont and Ollie Burle putting on 54. Burle and Ironside then dug in, displaying great patience and skill, to guide them to 116 for 1 on the third morning.

Burle’s dogged resistance was ended on 44 from 138 deliveries and sparked the loss of three wickets for seven runs, before Cantrell went on the counter-attack with 19 off 13 balls.

Suffolk failed to build any meaningful partnerships and when Ironside’s 156-ball stay was ended on the stroke of lunch at 171 for 8, it appeared to be all over.

There was one final twist, Shanks clubbing three fours and a six in an 18-ball cameo that harvested 23 runs to take Suffolk to within 18 before defeat was confirmed when Steele fell three balls later.

Ironside said: “I think we played some good cricket over the three days and maybe some not such good cricket at times.

“I thought we brought it back really nicely yesterday and got ourselves in a position to win the game, and unfortunately things didn’t go to plan with the bat.

“It was pretty tough conditions batting against the spin, but it was always going to be a difficult chase, so it was disappointing not to get over the line.”

Scorecard

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