Records tumbled as Suffolk’s cricketers secured their third straight victory in this season’s Unicorns Championship, writes Nick Garnham.
Suffolk defeated Hertfordshire by an innings and eight runs – their second successive victory by an innings – at North Mymms CC on Tuesday.
Frinton’s Kyran Young, who made his maiden century, and Jed Cawkwell of Copdock & Old Ipswichian compiled a county record third-wicket stand of 262.
Young (139) and Cawkwell (135) eclipsed the record of 225 set by Martyn Cull and Billy Root, younger brother of England captain Joe Root, versus Buckinghamshire at Ipswich School in 2014.
Suffolk skipper Adam Mansfield said: “Kyran Young and Jed Cawkwell were fantastic and they never looked in any trouble. It is great to see KY get some runs. He has had an opportunity at No. 3 for the past two seasons and he has finally produced a performance we know he is capable of.”
That partnership paved the way for the remaining batsmen to pile on the runs in the later stages of Suffolk’s innings – and Jack Beaumont took full advantage.
Beaumont struck a half-century off just 19 balls, with three sixes and five fours, in what is believed to be the quickest championship fifty by a Suffolk batsman, before being dismissed for 57.
Mansfield said: “The boys at the top set it up and that gave the guys lower down the order like Ben Shepperson and Jack Beaumont the chance to play with some freedom and Jack struck the ball really cleanly from the start and put the pressure straight on to them.”
The third record for the most catches in a match, which had stood for 38 years, fell to Mansfield.
The Sudbury wicket-keeper claimed 12 catches to surpass the benchmark set by fellow stumper Stuart Westley, who took ten catches – five in each innings – against Buckinghamshire at the GRE ground in Ipswich in 1980.
Mansfield, who held six catches in each innings, said: “It is nice to set new records and being a record for catching a lot of credit has got to go to the bowlers.
“Obviously you have to catch them, but without the opportunities that the bowlers create you are never going to beat records like that.”
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