Joe Rusby struck an unbeaten century as Ipswich recorded an impressive seven-wicket victory over high-flying Woolpit, in a Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Division One encounter last Saturday.
Woolpit had started the day in second spot, having recorded the same number of wins (five) as leaders Worlington, but they were second best to hosts Ipswich, who in turn celebrated only their third victory of the summer since clinching promotion last season.
Visiting skipper Will Parker won the toss and chose to bat first, and he went on to guide his Woolpit side into a position of strength until the innings rather fell away as wickets began to fall.
Parker put on 56 for the first wicket with Oliver Whiteman (20), and then added 87 for the second wicket with the dominant Corey Polyak (66 off 78 balls) to leave Woolpit well placed at 143 for one.
However, Parker then became the first of Jack Elford’s three victims, caught by Damien Smith for 57, and Woolpit’s momentum was gradually lost as they finally reached 238 for nine off their 50 overs.
Elford ended with figures of 10-4-35-3, and he was backed up by some fine bowling from Smith (two for 53) and Louis Perrin (two for 44). John Howe’s five overs were at a cost of only 16 runs.
Despite losing Nicholas Johnson (7) early on in their reply, Ipswich took the initiative thanks to a 98-run stand for the second wicket between the inspirational Rusby and Smith, who made 45 off 56 balls, with a six and seven fours.
Rusby found additional good support from Mark Burch (20) to take the score on to 154, before an unbroken stand of 85 for the fourth wicket with Louis Perrin saw Ipswich to victory with seven wickets and seven balls to spare.
Perrin’s unbeaten 47 came off just 43 balls, while Rusby finished on 104 not out, having hit 14 boundaries in his 138-ball knock.
Meanwhile, pace-setters Worlington coasted to a victory at Coggeshall Town by 83 runs.
Worlington captain, Craig Estlea, won the toss and elected to field, and opener Graham Ford proceeded to carry his bat as the visitors compiled a challenging 231 for seven off their 50 overs.
Opener Ford faced 148 balls for his patient 87 not out, offering stubborn resistance after Worlington had lost early wickets to slide to 78 for four.
Ford guided his side out of trouble, sharing a 66-run stand for the fifth wicket with Darren Hayward (35) and 53 for the sixth wicket with Nuwan Jayasena (36). Ashan Athurkoralage added a quickfire 21 at the death.
Coggeshall were never really in the hunt during their reply, which suffered from the early loss of Robert Jagger (8), who was bowled by the experienced Mark Nunn.
The hosts lost their top five batsmen with just 77 on the scoreboard, William Blackwell (14) being the fifth wicket to fall, caught by skipper Estlea off the impressive Jayasena, who finished with figures of 7.4-1-15-4.
Coggeshall were eventually dismissed for 148 off 40.4 overs, with all six Worlington bowlers taking wickets. Kane Addison top-scored with 32.
Worlington now have a 17-point lead at the top of the table, with Halstead leap-frogging Woolpit into second spot.
Elsewhere, Matthew Durrell scored an unbeaten century as Wivenhoe Town eased to a nine-wicket victory at Maldon, with 4.2 overs in hand.
Maldon were dismissed for 217, despite a wonderful century from Chris Harris (136) at the top of the innings. Harris faced 133 balls and hit six sixes and 13 fours. But no other batsman was able to get beyond 21, with Matt Durrell (three for 39) and Brendon Louw (three for 29) both in form.
Durrell then took charge of Wivenhoe’s reply, scoring 135 not out (four sixes and 14 fours), putting on 94 for the first wicket with Jordan Nicholls (20) and then an unbroken 126 for the second wicket with Tom Durrell (58no).
Mistley had two centurions in James Scott (119) and Sizwe Masondo (117), the duo sharing a superb partnership of 226 in a 42-run over Frinton 2nds.
Mistley made 306 for nine and, despite 86 from James Baker and 62 from Sam Brynes, Frinton ended on 264 all out. Jimmy Goff took four for 59.
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