A SUPERB century from Martyn Cull put Suffolk in command on the opening day of their Minor Counties Championship match against Buckinghamshire at Ipswich School yesterday.

Cull made 108 out of the home team’s total of 183 all out, before Suffolk reduced their visitors to 39 for five in reply.

Clacton’s Cull, who has now scored back-to-back hundreds for the county after making 103 in the second innings against Cumberland a fortnight ago, was the only batsman to get to grips with a sporting wicket that all the batsmen struggled to score runs on.

Suffolk skipper Justin Bishop decided to bat first on a wicket that is expected to deteriorate further as the match unfolds, and they lost Tom Huggins to only the second ball of the innings after striking the first to the boundary.

Hassan Adnan, who had scored twin centuries in Suffolk’s last match at Mildenhall, was caught in the slips in the fifth over and Scott Harvey became the first of ex-Surrey cricketer James Benning’s four victims to leave Suffolk 65 for three.

Ben France then joined Cull in the 21st over and they produced the only stand of note, adding 73 off 189 balls in 111 minutes before France, who made 27, was bowled in the 52nd over.

Three overs later Bishop was controversially given out caught at the wicket and Chris Warn followed suit off the very next delivery.

James Finch was caught at mid off from a leading edge six overs later and Phil Edwards soon followed before Cull’s resistance was finally ended when he was ninth man out. His innings occupied 210 deliveries spanning 271 minutes and contained 14 boundaries.

That meant Matt Hunn joined fellow debut-making teenager Adam Mansfield at the crease, the Sudbury pair adding just four further runs before Usman Arif brought the innings to a close as David Cranfield-Thompson claimed his third catch.

When Bucks replied Edwards removed Hamzah Taj in the third over of the innings and three overs later Hunn took his first Minor Counties wicket when he had Leigh Thompson also caught behind.

Warren Miller presented Edwards with a simple return catch in the 11th over and in the next over Finch brilliantly caught Benning in the slips. Three overs later Edwards struck again, Bishop this time holding a top edge off Joel Pope’s bat in the slip cordon, to leave the visitors’ innings in disarray.

They were spared any further punishment when rain forced the players from the field at 6.20pm and the umpires abandoned play for the day 20 minutes later.

Ivry Street scorecard

SUFFOLK

First innings: T Huggins lbw b Arif 4, H Adnan c Benning b Arif 4, M Cull c Benning b Arif 108, S Harvey lbw b Benning 16,

B France b Bannerjee 27, J Bishop c Cranfield-Thompson b Benning 0, C Warn c Cranfield-Thompson b Benning 0, J Finch c Payne b Benning 4, P Edwards c & b Bannerjee 3, A Mansfield not out 5, M Hunn c Cranfield-Thompson b Arif 1. Extras 11. Total (off 80.4 overs) 183.

Fall: 1-4, 2-23, 3-65, 4-138, 5-139, 6-139, 7-151, 8-171, 9-179, 10-183.

Bowling: Arif 17.4-1-63-4; Benning 26-6-66-4; Stanway 12-5-24-0; Bannerjee 25-11-26-2.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE

First innings: H Taj c Warn b Edwards 0, L Tomlinson c Warn b Hunn 2, W Miller c & B Edwards 10, M Payne not out 3, J Benning c Finch b Hunn 0, J Pope c Bishop b Edwards 4, J Harrison not out 0. Extras 20. Total (for 5 wkts, off 17 overs) 39.

Did not bat yesterday: D Cranfield-Thompson, V Bannerjee, U Arif, S Stanway.

Fall: 1-9, 2-25, 3-32, 4-33, 5-38.

Bowling: Edwards 9-5-12-3; Hunn 7-3-21-2; Bishop 1-1-0-0.

Suffolk 3pts, Buckinghamshire 4pts.