CRICKET: Most first round DFDS Suffolk Cup games went to form with St Margaret's captain Nigel Bradford satisfied with the way his side played in their seven-wicket defeat at East Anglian Premier League Bury St Edmunds.

By Elvin King

CRICKET

MOST first round DFDS Suffolk Cup games went to form with St Margaret's captain Nigel Bradford satisfied with the way his side played in their seven-wicket defeat at East Anglian Premier League Bury St Edmunds.

The Ipswich-based Saints, who finished mid-table in Division Three of the Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship last season, can now concentrate on retaining the Plate competition they won by beating Eye and District in the final last year.

A feature of Sunday's game at Bury was the number of extras conceded by St Margaret's. Needing 158 to win, Bury achieved this target in less than 34 overs – helped by 51 runs not scored off the bat.

Bradford said: "We were a little short and had a couple of second team players and a couple of youngsters in the side.

"We conceded a lot of wides and byes towards the end of the Bury innings when we realised we had little chance of winning.

"A mixture of inexperienced bowlers and a deputy keeper contributed to the large number of extras and, being a cup match, umpires were strict on wides."

Lee Carlin was behind the stumps because his brother Ian, the regular Saints keeper, was unavailable. "Lee did well, and so did the team," added Bradford. "We did as well as we expected but did not score enough runs to really trouble Bury."

Suffolk wicketkeeper Chris Warn hit an unbeaten 51 and won a three-day cruise from the sponsors as man of the match. Suffolk director of cricket Kevin Brooks must have pushed him close with five wickets from 7.5 overs bowling off spin.

Neither Warn nor Brooks will be available for the second round match on June 23 as it clashes with Suffolk's Minor Counties three-day game against Northumberland at Jesmond.

Another man of the match to miss the next round will be Russell Catley. The Suffolk regular struck an unbeaten 128 off the same number of balls for Mildenhall against Copdock and Old Ipswichians as the EAPL side beat the Two Counties First Division outfit by 67 runs.

Mildenhall did not look back after reaching 163 before losing their second wicket, with Brian How helping Catley put on 135. In reply, Copdock were well served by Steve Gauke who made 62, but he received insufficient support to make a serious assault on the big Mildenhall total.

Browns gained revenge for losing last season's semi-final to Ipswich and East Suffolk, when the match was played with reduced overs on a Friday night because of rain.

Tim Debenham and Matt Perry both went close to half centuries as Browns reached 169 before losing their third wicket.

Australian Brendan Meagher, allowed to play in this competition for the first time following a relaxation of the rules, won himself the coveted mini cruise after a steady innings of 58 not out.

IES were up for the task of reaching 191 for victory when they were 69 for one, but a dramatic batting collapse saw Browns win at a canter in under 33 overs with Meagher and Charlie Sadler tearing the home batting apart with four wickets apiece.

The Exning versus Easton game also went as expected. The current Two Counties champions scored 227 for three with Suffolk batsman Tim Catley making an unbeaten 107. Glen Mitchell scored 49 for Easton when the visitors replied but they got nowhere near their opponents and were beaten by 100 runs.