The winner this Saturday was the rain ( but good for farmers ) two of the lower placed EAPL teams had wins due to Norfolk having the better of the weather. Ramsey doing remarkably well to bowl Ashmanhaugh out for just 83 and reaching the target with just two wickets down. Witham scored 105 but lost to Downham Stowe by two wickets.
At the Victory Ground, Bury St Edmunds lost the toss to near neighbours Sudbury, in conditions of overcast skies and the threat of rain the team winning the toss is always going to bowl the pitch was better than the one experienced at Lords but the low cloud cover was likely to add movement to the cricket ball. Play commenced at 12.45 with Bury openers Justin Bishop and Will Routledge having 30 minutes of batting to negotiate prior to lunch both batted with great care against good bowling from James Poulson and Patrick Sadler, in fact only 5 runs came from the first 6 overs. In the 9 overs before lunch the score reached 13.0. A shortened lunch break had play resume at 1.45. On 35 Justin Bishop was out caught by Darren Batch off Matthew Clark for 17. Archie Jones (11) was unlucky to be run out due to the ball ricocheting off a fielder on 52. Harry Gallian scored 15 off 12 deliveries to move the score to 69 but it was Routledge who anchored the innings before being out caught by Sadler off young Ron Batch who looked full of promise bowling at this level. Routledge had scored 52 off 81 deliveries. In these circumstances the minimum number of overs played has to be 70 with the team batting first still able to obtain double batting points, mindful that Sudbury could be chasing a small target home captain Josh Cantrell along with Alex Maynard set about scoring as many runs as possible Cantrell reached 63 not out from 61 deliveries and Maynard in his element attacking the bowlers scoring 35 not out from 22 that included 2 x 6 and 2 x 4. The predicted rain came at 4.00 pm after 39.1 over with the home side on 200.4. The last 6 overs producing 54 runs. The game had to be abandoned but not before Cantrell had declared claiming the extra batting points to give the home team 9 points against Sudbury’s 7.
The Bury 2nd team match at Coggeshall and 3rd team game away to Colchester Cavaliers were both abandoned without a bowl bowled.

On Sunday the weather improved to allow the fixture against Melton St Audrys to go ahead. The pitch having had a climate control cover on it since Friday afternoon was predictably green but home captain Simon Aldous made the brave decision to bat first on what was a damp track that dried out during the course of the day, Arlo Bhavsar was first out for 2 with the score on 16, John Hartwright (27) joined Aldous to take the score to 77 but a flurry of wickets put Melton in the ascendancy at 122.6. It was Steve Graham who helped push the score along to 174.7 with 20 runs off 37 deliveries that helped create a realistic target, remarkably Aldous remained the last wicket to fall scoring 74 in a final total of 189 just one ball short of the maximum 40 overs. F.Akol and A.Riley both talking 4 wickets for the visitors.
Melton started well and being only one wicket down on 92 and looked a good bet to win but Bury fielded and bowled well The introduction of Janak Raj halted the visitors progress as he bowled 10 overs for just 21 runs with the wicket of E.Banna lbw for 34 in the process. Opener C. Crowley scored 59 being 5th out bowled by Graham who had the excellent figures of 4.36 off his 8 overs. Melton needed 60 off the last 10 overs but slowly ran out of batsmen. Sam Hartwright bowled with good pace at the end which left Melton on 173.8 Bury winning by 16 runs in a very good game. All appreciated the superb tea provided by Mrs Raj in a day when cricket proved the winner after a rain swept Saturday.
During the week Bury’s Under 15 team played away to Worlington the home side scored 186 with Jack Lee taking 3.26. Two wickets each for the Raghavendra brothers. Bury replied with 173 in a close encounter Lee scoring 26 and Toby Liles 27. On Tuesday June 2nd Bury’s Under 13 team played Nowton who scored 84.8 Bury replied with 78.7 Ralph Heppell top scored making 17 with Vivan Verma 13 and Theo Cowling taking 3.7.
Greene King Players of the week Josh Cantrell, Will Routledge, Simon Aldous and Steve Graham.
Byron Burgers Player of the week Jack Lee.
Next week Bury commence the first of three tough fixtures away to Copdock. The 2nd team are at home to Mistley, 3rd team are at home to Ipswich 2nds and 4th team away to Bardwell 2nds.
No Sunday Hunts Bats fixture but there is a Ladies Festival at the Victory Ground.

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