CRICKET: Ipswich and East Suffolk continued their charge towards promotion when they beat Lakenheath despite an early scare.They lost five wickets quickly in the early part of the innings before 53 from Mike Edmund and an unbeaten 35 from Chris Stokes gave them a respectable target.

CRICKET

IPSWICH and East Suffolk continued their charge towards promotion when they beat Lakenheath despite an early scare.

They lost five wickets quickly in the early part of the innings before 53 from Mike Edmund and an unbeaten 35 from Chris Stokes gave them a respectable target.

As so often this season their bowlers performed very well and in the end won by 67 runs with no Lakenheath batsman scoring over 30.

With five games remaining they have a big advantage over third placed Easton in Division Three of the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties League.

It would mean a quick return to the top division after they suffered relegation last year.

They could replace Browns who lost again as their relegation fears grew stronger.

Three early wickets from Charlie Sadler had Sudbury in trouble at 44 for three. However, Matt Pears and Anthony Chapman both fell just short of their half centuries as Browns were set a reachable target. It should have been less but a last wicket stand of 41 took Sudbury onto 197.

Browns' batting let them down with only Sadler, coming in at number eight, ending with a reasonable score as he was left unbeaten on 33.

At the top of Division One it could prove to be a decisive weekend as Tattingstone got back to winning ways and Copdock, who had been second, were beaten.

Tattingstone beat Halstead by seven wickets with Gavin Driver taking five for 60 before Tattingstone cruised to their required target.

Copdock's title chances could have gone with a home defeat to in-form Wivenhoe who recorded their sixth victory in seven games.

Copdock's John Bell took impressive figures of 6-39 in a high-scoring game but his side narrowly missed out despite contributions from Tristan Jervis (47) and James East (65).

With the second-placed side still in with a chance of promotion Copdock, who move down to fourth, still have a lot to play for but will need other results to go their way if they are to finish top.

In Division Two Easton recorded an impressive victory against Mildenhall seconds with Nigel Rackham hitting an unbeaten 67.

In Division Four Achilles stay top after beating Stowmarket by five wickets.

Ian Knight took three for 47 before Clive Stafford steered them to victory with 52 not out.

In Division Five Browns seconds were defeated by Maldon by 83 runs.

Ipswich and East Suffolk, after two impressive performances last week went down by four runs against Long Melford.

Tattingstone seconds won in Division six against Braintree seconds and Felixstowe defeated Mistley seconds.

In the much criticised Sunday Challenge no games were cancelled which has not happened in recent weeks. The format of the competition is likely to be changed before next season after many games have been forfitted.

In the action Tattingstone's good weekend continued when they beat Browns by five wickets.

Browns once again were struggling before Brendan Meagher, their best player of the season, hit another big score. His 85 not out took Browns over the 200 total but Tattingstone have one of the best batting line-ups around and again showed their class.

With useful contributions from Stuart Hammond, Darshan Shivalkar, Mark Sproats and Ian Connell Tattingstone gained the victory despite John Manning's three-wicket haul.

Tattingstone held their cricket week over the last seven days and they won their two games.

They beat a Gents of York side by four wickets before defeating a Neal Manning eleven by six wickets.

In the other game which formed part of their celebrations a Medite Alliance Seniors side beat a Osborne Garages team by three wickets.

TATTINGSTONE batsman Stuart Hammond has been praised by Suffolk director of cricket Kevin Brooks following a hundred for Suffolk seconds last week.

Hammond has been in tremendous form this season and in May his captain Chris Bell said he was good enough to play for Suffolk.

He had been picked for the Suffolk seconds' squad against Cambridgeshire in the middle of June but was unable to play due to other commitments.

This time he took his opportunity as he reached three figures in Suffolk's five wicket victory against Lincolnshire.

Brooks said: "We called him up based on his performances this season and he is the main reason why Tattingstone are doing so well.

"His innings could not have been better. He showed patience and an ability to take advantage of any bad balls.

"But it is unlikely he will feature in the first team this season given the current strength of our top order.

"He still has some way to go before he can be chosen for the firsts but this knock has done him no harm at all.

"He is among a number of local players who we are keeping a watchful eye on."