Norfolk CCC made the short trip down the A11 to take on Cambridgeshire CCC in their final two group games in the NCCA T20 competition. Norfolk had already won the group and secured a home fixture in The Super 12’s.
In the morning game Cambs won the toss and asked the visitors to bat first. Norfolk were without the injured Charlie Hood so Jonah Wicks was deputising behind the sticks.
Freddie Fairey (17) and skipper Sam Arthurton (31) who had scored 203 n.o. on Saturday in the East Anglian Premier League opened with 29 for the first wicket before Fairey was bowled by Mark Saunders. Ben Wilcox joined Arthurton at the crease, and the duo added 57 before Arthurton edged a ball from Ben Clilverd to keeper Tom Cullen. Arthur Wilcox came in to partner his brother Ben, and the pair were in dominant form playing some big shots all round the ground in an superb stand of 97. Ben was first to depart with the score on 183 in the 18th over when he was caught behind by Cullen from the slow bowling of captain James Sykes for 82 (four fours and six sixes). Arthur soon followed him back to pavilion three balls later when he was well caught by Henry Wilson again from the bowling of Sykes for 51 which included four fours and three sixes.
Hami Qadri (18 n.o.) and Jonah Wicks (10 n.o.) with a partnership of 28 saw the final total up to 212 for 4.
In a fine opening spell between Andy Hanby and Joe Everett the Norfolk bowlers soon had the home side in trouble. Everett struck first with the wickets of Henry Wilson and Travis Holland both to good catches by Nathan Muggeridge before Hanby trapped Ben Saunders LBW to reduce Cambridgeshire to 6 for 3 after three overs. There was a mini revival in a stand of 29 by Cullen (22) and Ralph Hayward (14) before wickets started to tumble at regular intervals. Arthur Wilcox helped himself to four wickets and Qadri two in a disciplined Norfolk bowling display backed up by some excellent fielding. Muggeridge claimed his third catch, a brilliant hold on the boundary edge for the final wicket of Mark Saunders as Cambs were dismissed for 103 in the 17th over.
Arthur Wilcox with 4 for 23, Qadri 2 for 25 and Everett 2 for 8 were the principal wicket takers.
As is often the case in these double headers the second match was a totally different affair. Norfolk won the toss, batted first and were soon on the backfoot losing Fairey, Ben Wilcox, Arthurton and Qadri with just 48 on the board. Arthur Wilcox continued his good form with 34 including five fours but he was the only batter to make any real inroads into the Cambridgeshire attack as Norfolk stuttered to 114 all out in 18.3 overs.
Despite another tight opening spell in which Hanby and Everett only conceded 23 runs in the powerplay (six overs) during which Everett picked up the wickets of Wilson and Holland for the second time in the day, Norfolk’s total was never going to be enough. Ben Saunders played very well for his 56 n.o. and added 52 with Ralph Hayward (28) for the third wicket and an unbroken 40 with Sykes (15 n.o.) as he steered Cambs to a comfortable victory in 18th over.
Norfolk ended on top of the group with 12 points, Lincolnshire second with 9 and Suffolk managed to qualify for the Super 12’s in third on 6 points by virtue of winning one of their games against Hertfordshire at Mellis on Sunday.
