Mark Radford struggled with his rhythm and was quickly replaced having only bowled three overs while skipper Rob Sullivan (9.2 38-2), who bowled well, missed out on a number of opportunities through difficult catches that went to hand but where difficult chances to hold onto.

Pressure needed to be applied to the Lakenheath batting line-up and through the combination of Martin Wilkins (17-9-42-6) and Adam Dellars (13-3-44-0) off spin they provided just that. In a spell of bowling that produced few runs both bowlers seemed to dictate the pace of the game. Martins line and length and variation proved just too much for the Lakenheath batting.

Haverhill applied the pressure and when four wickets fell for just 25 runs the innings was brought to a close quickly.

Lakenheath All Out for 170

N Winter (56) returned to form with a cracking off drive for four off of the first ball. Unfortunately Dave Godwin (0) couldn’t repeat the form of last week and was dismissed early. Number three batsmen Simon Youngs (10), as ever, looked settled and ready to fire when a deceptively short bowled slower delivery dropped onto leg stump when attempting to turn it to leg off his hip.

Adam Dellar (62) looked nervous early on almost smothering each delivery with strong defensive play, he slowly proceeded to stretch out, get his foot work going and stand tall through his shots. He let lose with trademark back foot drives through the off side and a cracking pull to long on followed by one which flew over the 30 ft hedge 10 yards from the boundary and into the car park.

With the loss of N Winter for fifty six Sam Powell (35) arrived at the crease to much anticipation. Pushing the ball about he looked confident however his bludgeoning cover drives and contempt for wayward bowling was yet to surface. Between Adam Dellar and Sam Powell they proceeded to exploit gaps in the field and easily drew Haverhill to within the winning target. A partnership of 59 was broken when concentration failed A Dellar and he hauled out to P Pallant needing only twelve runs to win.

Sam Powell finally cut loose with the winning post in sight with a number of cover drives and long on and off strokes cleanly hit with power and timing.

Haverhill 4 for 170

Captain Says:

Once again I got under the skin of the opposition and they let me do it. When on the field the batsmen asked us to move the side screens to facilitate an opening left hand right hand combination. Usually I would have no problem with this however in warm condition’s I had a problem and my often abrupt manner was about to hit a nerve.

Moving the side screens would mean our fielders running back and forth over the course of the afternoon while the opposition batsmen sat there and watched the game. NOT ON……….the opposition batsmen didn’t like it and they proceeded to use colourful language in front of their fellow players about my decision and boy did they get wound up.

Back in good old Aus where we take every opportunity within the rules, sometimes bending them a little and perhaps not acting as gentlemanly as we should, we try to take an advantageous position, people do it in different ways. John McEnroe gave the umpires a hard time through his aggressive behaviour, Peterson demonstrates this through his presence, mental strength and arrogance on the field, he exudes a winning attitude, boxers give rant sessions through their press conference before the fight, it’s all a game, not just what happens on the field when you are bound by the rules of cricket but everything that happens before as well. At Haverhill we attempt to portray a professional but hard playing image. We arrive well before the game starts, we get warmed up well and we are blazoned with our sponsors logos, we look as you would say “the business”. But be well assured we not just wrapping.

We take an attitude onto the field where we feel privileged to be representing Haverhill and our club. We will give our best. Giving our best should translate into success on the field. A lot of success comes with seizing the opportunity to exploit the oppositions weakness. With 70% of cricket played above the shoulders its no wonder some grey matter is weaker than other.

The game started 1 hour before the batsmen strode to the crease.

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