On a very hot sunny day Haverhill 2nds travelled to the Victory Ground in Bury St Edmunds for a difficult match against Bury 3rds . Winning the toss was crucial on the day and naturally Skipper Wilkins lost it ! Bury decided to bat first on a fine looking wicket and when Skipper Wilkins bowled the first ball and it whizzed through the covers for four you had a feeling of what was to follow .

  Young Joey Kettle ( 1-54)  took an early wicket and a fine Run-Out by Tom Saville saw both Openers back in the pavilion with forty on the board but the hard hitting P.Thearle (121) and the calm S.Nunn (65) bedded in against some erratic bowling and punished every loose ball and some that weren’t loose !  Haverhill stuck to their task and fielded valiantly despite wilting in the intense heat . Good catches by Phil Jones , Tom Saville , Joey Kettle and keeper Jason Ketteridge kept the score within reach as Bury closed on 285-7 after 45 very tough overs . Dan Webb took 3-86 off 15 overs and Nural Hoque 2-64 from 9 overs .

  Any hopes Haverhill had of chasing this total down were soon gone as Neil Winter (2) and Sam Hartshorn (5) soon departed . Greg Street (31) and Phil Jones (22) led a brief recovery before both departed . Liam Savage (49) and Jason Ketteridge (40) then had a spirited partnership to raise the tempo but the run rate was increasing and both perished trying to claw back some bonus points . Tom Saville (12) , Martyn Wilkins (12 no) and Dan Webb (10no) scrapped past 200 to secure the fifth batting bonus point  as overs ran out at 205-8 . 

  Defeat by 80 runs to a very good side was no disgrace and Bury were the strongest side we have faced this Season . They fully deserved their win and we can take heart in our fighting performance to gain as many bonus points as possible . We now know the standard needed to gain promotion as on the day the better side won but we can take some positives from the match on a very hot day . Home to Long Melford on Saturday as we aim to get back to winning ways .

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