CRICKET: Suffolk came an awful cropper in their Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy match against Buckinghamshire at Dinton.They were bidding to set up the chance of a match at home to a first class county next summer, but instead Suffolk were thrashed by a team which had finished below them in the final Eastern Division table in the Minor Counties Championship.

CRICKET

SUFFOLK came an awful cropper in their Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy match against Buckinghamshire at Dinton.

They were bidding to set up the chance of a match at home to a first class county next summer, but instead Suffolk were thrashed by a team which had finished below them in the final Eastern Division table in the Minor Counties Championship.

They came unstuck against an awesome display of clean hitting as David Taylor cracked 16 fours and eight sixes in an innings of 140 from just 77 balls in 89 minutes.

That just about settled things, as Taylor's powerful display saw him depart with the scoreboard reaching 220 for three after 26 overs.

Paul Atkins also reached three figures as all the Bucks batsmen took advantage of their perfect foundation to rattle along at eight an over. It was a good batting wicket, the sun shone on the toiling bowlers, the boundaries were not too long – and the final total was a mighty 424 for five from just 50 overs.

None of Suffolk's bowlers could do anything about it. They all returned to the pavilion having been struck to all parts of the ground at similar rates of eight an over or so.

Even Gary Kirk, so often the most economical of all for Suffolk and for Clacton in the East Anglian Premier League, ended with figures of one for 80 from his ten overs.

"We were Iggied!" said Suffolk director of cricket Kevin Brooks. "Iggy" is the nickname of Ian Graham, who has often been promoted to pinch-hitter to open the innings and have a go at the opposing opening bowlers. "Ian Graham has done it to others, many times, but today it happened to us," said Brooks.

"It was the kind of game that you come across in one-day cricket every now and then. I don't think we bowled all that badly, but you've got to give credit to Bucks, as they batted really well."