SUFFOLK Over-50s got off to a great start to their Inter-County Championship campaign with a convincing six-wicket win over Northamptonshire at Rushden Town CC.

Northants batted first and were restricted to 221 for eight from their 45 overs, with Colin Scott returning useful figures of 9-2-32-3 on his debut. Nigel Dennis was as stingy as ever at the top of the order, sending down his nine overs at a cost of just 14 runs, and skipper Tony Stubbs (one for 37), Guy Robins (one for 44) and Ian Booth (one for 30) all chipped in with wickets.

In reply another new player, Keith Howlett, shared a partnership of 161 for the third wicket to set up the Suffolk win. From a dodgy 37 for two Stubbs (85 not out) and Howlett (75) took Suffolk to within sight of victory, which duly arrived with two overs to spare.

Scores: Northamptonshire 221 for 8 (A Pearson 56, D Denton 39, D Goodjohn 32, L Thurbon 32, C Scott 3 for 32). Suffolk 222 for 4 (T Stubbs 85no, K Howlett 75). Suffolk won by 6 wkts.

Suffolk’s next match is against Norfolk at Mildenhall on Wednesday (2pm start).

Team: Ian Booth, Peter Boughton, Nick Crame, Nigel Dennis, Kevin Dobson, Andrew Gallant, Ollie Gravell, Martin Kingdon, Guy Robins, Tony Stubbs and Keith Howlett.