Burwell & Exning and Cambridge St Giles both chalk up victories in penultimate round of Onyx League Division One action

Burwell & Exning (274-8) closed the gap on the Onyx League Division One’s top three sides with a 54-run victory at second-placed Histon (220) at the weekend.

Not for the first time this season, captain Paul Summerskill was Burwell & Exning’s main contributor of runs with a top score of 81 from 83 deliveries.

Summerskill’s knock included eight fours and one six, while Dylan Hardy (61) and Nic Huckle (40) also provided useful totals before the 50-over limit was reached.

In terms of the bowling, Cameron Mitchell (3-36), Ben Leach (2-29) and Toby Purton (2-27) were the leading wicket takers for Histon.

In reply, openers Mitchell (32) and Alfie Dixon (22) got the hosts off to a solid start before Ed Hyde – batting at number three – top scored with a patient 64.

However, that was the end of the significant scoring for Histon, who ended up falling well short of their target.

Manish Burman (3-21) and Ben Kelly (3-43) took three wickets apiece for Burwell & Exning, while Edward Manning (2-37) snared a couple.

Histon will sign off for the 2024 season with a trip to mid-table Eaton Socon on Saturday (14 September), while Burwell & Exning finish on the same day with a clash away at Sawston & Babraham II.

Elsewhere, Cambridge St Giles (230-5) chalked up a 73-run victory from their trip to Old Leysians (157) on Saturday.

Having been inserted into bat by their hosts, St Giles started positively through openers James Gillespie (39) and Kunal Dabas (20).

The departure of those two batsmen then saw Zahar Hussain (67) and Vansh Bajaj (48 not out) come to the crease, and the pair combined to put on a total that proved to be beyond their opponents.

The Old Leysians’ reply struggled for any significant momentum throughout their innings, with three of the batting line-up being dismissed for ducks.

Bajaj (4-30) spearheaded St Giles’ charge towards victory with the ball alongside figures of 3-26 from Charles Bell.

Fifth-placed St Giles will finish the season on Saturday (14 September) with the visit of Foxton Granta, while eighth-placed Old Leysians hit the road to take on Saffron Walden II.

Meanwhile, Foxton Granta (117) were beaten by two wickets during last weekend’s low-scoring affair at Ramsey (120-8), who were crowned Division One champions.

Openers Adam Webster (41) and Douglas Rice (12) were the only batsmen to score double figures during an afternoon to forget for Foxton Granta’s batting line-up.

Nevertheless, the away side still went close to pulling off an unlikely victory thanks to some accurate bowling from captain Lewys Hill (3-21), Sam Beer (3-44) and Ravi Mahendra (2-20).

Foxton Granta, who still have two games remaining this term, find themselves sitting third in the league table.