SUFFOLK enter their final Minor Counties Championship match of the season relying on results elsewhere if they are to have any chance of being crowned Eastern Division champions.

Nick Garnham

SUFFOLK enter their final Minor Counties Championship match of the season relying on results elsewhere if they are to have any chance of being crowned Eastern Division champions.

Even in they defeat Hertfordshire at the Victory Ground, Bury St Edmunds in the three-day fixture starting tomorrow, Suffolk know that the destination of the title is out of their hands.

Lincolnshire are in pole position - 14 points ahead of second-placed Cambridgeshire - with Suffolk one point and place further behind.

However, Kevin Brooks, Suffolk's director of cricket, is just pleased to still be in with a chance of capturing a second title in four seasons entering the final round of matches.

“We would have liked to have been in control of our own destiny going into the last game, but unfortunately we are relying on other results going our way. That said, we are delighted to still be in with a chance of winning the league given the amount of cricket we have lost to the elements this season.

“Cambridgeshire, Staffordshire and Bedfordshire are probably equally frustrated given the fact that Lincolnshire managed to complete their last game inside two days and so avoid the bad weather.

“The season we won the league in 2005 was the season we were least affected by the weather, and that sadly tends to have an influence on the outcome. With just six games the margins are so much tighter and there is no real time to catch up if you lose time to the weather.

“However, the pleasing thing is the quality of the cricket we have played this season. It is a tremendous feat to still be in contention after a complete washout in our first game and a just reward for the efforts that the team have put in.” Assuming he bats Suffolk skipper Phil Caley should finally assume the mantle of Suffolk's leading all-time run-scorer in the Minor Counties Championship.

Caley, needing just 50 runs going into the game against Buckinghamshire at Ipswich School, scored 34 and did not bat in the second innings, before being dismissed for three in each innings at Northumberland. He made only four in the first innings at Norfolk and did not bat in the second innings, leaving him still six runs short of surpassing Simon Clements record of 9,219 runs.

Tomorrow's match, which is sponsored by the nearby South Lee School, starts at 11am and admission is free.

Suffolk: T Huggins, B France, M Cull, H Adnan, C Warn, N Lee, P Caley, C Swallow, J Bishop, M Smith, A McGarry.