SUFFOLK entertained Cambridgeshire at the Risbygate in Bury St Edmunds in their second Eastern Counties League match of the season.Suffolk had lost by the narrowest of margins - one shot - to Norfolk earlier in the year, and manager Chris Southgate had selected a strong team for this important game.

SUFFOLK entertained Cambridgeshire at the Risbygate in Bury St Edmunds in their second Eastern Counties League match of the season.

Suffolk had lost by the narrowest of margins - one shot - to Norfolk earlier in the year, and manager Chris Southgate had selected a strong team for this important game.

The home side made a slow start and after five ends the match was very even with Suffolk just ahead by 20 shots to 17. Slowly Suffolk's superiority began to establish itself and at ten ends the lead had been extended to 14 shots at 44-30. Then came a Suffolk surge - for which they were once famous - and at 15 ends they were ahead 75-37. Cambridgeshire staged a minor fightback over the last few ends and the final score was a resounding win for Suffolk, 91-55.

On rink one a new team of Roger Southgate, Graham Rowland, Colin Gathercole and Bernie Firman played very well together, and with Colin in outstanding form, they gave a convincing performance to win by 15 shots, 27-12.

Chris Southgate, skipping in place of unavailable star John Rednall, had little to do as his three front men, Lee Rowland, Phil Last and Brian Andrews, outplayed their opponents and with Last drawing superbly throughout the game they won 23-14.

On rink three Andrew Friend's four of Mark Todd, Mark Cole and John Catchpole produced another immaculate display of consistent bowling to record the biggest win of the day, 30-8. These four players have now played four games for Suffolk this season and are unbeaten, with a shot advantage of 58 - a truly remarkable achievement.

David Wood, with three new colleagues in Neil Frowhawk, Andy Phillips and Gwyn Chambers, struggled on an outside rink and were a trifle unlucky to lose by ten shots, 21-11.

Manager Chris Southgate was delighted with both the performance and result. He said: “I was pleased with the attitude and keenness shown by all Suffolk players but we must not be carried away with this win as Cambridgeshire were not at their strongest.”

Suffolk's remaining game is at Haverhill on Sunday, March 25, and with several players not available, the manager will have to build some new combinations to overcome a strong Essex side.