Bedford Cricket Club’s Under-18 side waved goodbye to junior cricket in style on Friday night as they secured a 9-wicket victory at Blunham to claim the club’s first ever East Beds Shield trophy.
After beating Flitwick in the semi-final, Bedford faced reigning champions Blunham in the showpiece event; where over £400 was raised for various charities on the night.
The East Beds Charity competitions encompass five events across the year and raise thousands of pounds for local charities across the county including Bedford’s Kings Arms Project.
Batting first, Blunham posted a below par 117 despite a fast start with Archie Houghton top scoring with 26 from 17 balls, with the first four overs going at ten runs per over.
From there however, Blunham lost wickets at regular intervals with Rohit Mehmi securing 3-17 as well as two wickets apiece for Ben Bailey and Vedant Somal.
Bedford’s chase looked straightforward in comparison; man of the match, Charlie Blythman the only wicket falling but only after he smashed 65 from 40 balls.
Zaid Faleel hit the winning runs in an unbeaten knock of 47 to give Bedford the 9-wicket win and the trophy.
Earlier in the year, Eaton Socon beat Potton to win the Senior Shield and also won the Heritage Cup, while Blunham were once again runners-up in the Butcher Shield. Flitwick were victors in the junior section.
Dramatic win for Saturday XI in Northamptonshire
Bedford’s Saturday XI faced a crunch game at Caribbean Utd on Saturday, knowing a win would drag them clear of the Northamptonshire League Division Four relegation zone.
A partnership of 96 between Shiv Odedra (58) and Ramkumar Jayaraman (34) looked to set Bedford up for a big total at Overstone Park School only for a familiar collapse to kick in as they could only muster 169.
Rohit Mehmi’s 3-21 kicked things off well for Bedford, but with the game in the balance it was Sam Till who made the difference with 4-17 from ten overs to take Bedford over the line by 12 runs.
The win takes Bedford up to fifth but with the league standings still extremely tight, anything can happen in the three remaining games.
The Women’s XI were also in action as they battled to a 16-run victory against Kettering at The Bury on Saturday afternoon.
Flitwick running away with Bedfordshire League
Queens Park Westfield remain in second place in the Premier Division of the Bedfordshire County Cricket League despite a 7-wicket loss to runaway leaders, Flitwick.
Biddenham have regained second spot in Division One after a comfortable 8-wicket win against bottom side, Lutonians 2nd’s but Eggington stumbled in the race for promotion with a 2-run loss at improving Potton.
With Bedford still to face Biddenham and Eggington in the fight for promotion after a free weekend, there are still plenty of twists and turns to come in Bedfordshire’s second tier.
Bedford’s Under-15 ‘A’ team face a winner takes all encounter against Ampthill for the Under 15 title on Thursday after they saw off Harrold by nine wickets.
Rafe Willmer top scored with 31 for Bedford as they chased down Harrold’s total of 97 with Will Haywood gaining 4-18.
The ‘B’ team were also victors at Blunham but they look as if they will have to settle for third in what has been a competitive division all season.
