Daniel Baker has a look at some of the local sports from around the region.
In cricket, Cambridge’s Tom Westley hit 59 in England’s second innings as they set South Africa a huge 492 to win on Day 4 of their third Test on Sunday.
England declared on 313 for 8 and captain Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow also impressed with the bat as the hosts took control of the match.
Debutant Westley made 25 runs in the first innings, but his second innings came to an end after he was stumped by Quentin de Kock. The third Test concludes this Monday, July 30.
Elsewhere, Cambridge Granta’s match with Sudbury was cut short by the rain. Granta made 277 for 8 in their innings and Sudbury ended on 10 without loss. A general draw was declared as the outcome.
There were mixed results for our sides in the Whiting & Partners Divisions. Only Waresley won Division 1, but all of our sides won in Division 2 except Cambridge St Giles.
In the CCA Senior League Divisions, Cambridge NCI and Fulbourn were the winners in Division 1 while Histon, Longstanton and the Old Leysians won in Division 2. Cottenham were the only local winners in Division 3.
In football, Cambridge City spared no mercy as they thumped Histon 4-0 in a pre-season friendly on Saturday. Salim Relizani had an early penalty saved, but tucked in the rebound to make it 1-0.
Tom Knowles then made it 2-0 before the break and in the second half, Harry Norman added a third before Knowles set up Relizani for the fourth goal.
Cambridge United’s match with Southend was a more emotional affair. The friendly between the sides was a benefit match for U’s fan Simon Dobbin who was left with brain damage following an attack in 2015.
Dobbin appeared on the pitch and players from the two sides held a guard of honour as he came out in his wheelchair.
Uche Ikpeazu looked lively for the U’s and had a goal ruled out on 26 minutes for a foul. But soon after, Greg Taylor conceded a penalty which was converted by veteran striker Marc-Antoine Fortuné.
The U’s didn’t give up though and came out fighting after the break. Medy Elito miscued a shot and Luke Berry saw his penalty saved by Mark Oxley before Theo Robinson made it 2-0 and sealed the win for the Shrimpers.
After the game, Cambridge manager Shaun Derry said: “In terms of stopping a really strong League 1 football club from having a lot of attempts on goal, I think they had one and that was the second goal for them right at the end of the second half.
“But there were a lot of positives from us. I was pleased as there were a lot of positive performances and strong performances and we’re looking forward to next week.”
Meanwhile, Cambridge United Women were thrashed 5-1 by Nottingham Forest in their pre-season friendly despite the fact that new signing Amber Cantwell got on the scoresheet.
In motorsport, Cambridge driver Luke Davenport has revealed that he’s preparing for a return to the sport just weeks after his horror accident at Croft.
Davenport began physiotherapy this week and was due to be a spectator at Snetterton on Sunday for the latest round of the British Touring Car Championship.
On the track, Cambridge driver Sam Tomlinson cemented his top 10 place in the overall standings in the Elise Trophy at the weekend. He picked up 15 points from his two races at Oulton Park.
And Cambridge graduate Oliver Turvey was also in race action in the Montreal e-Prix over the weekend which took place over both Saturday and Sunday.
In American football, the Cambridgeshire Cats came from behind to secure a win against the Kent Exiles to end their rotten run of form. Kirill Tretiakov’s touchdown secured a 20-16 victory for the Cats on Sunday.
In tennis, Cambridgshire’s men celebrated a promotion on Friday as they secured second spot in Group 2 at the Aegon Summer County Cup.
Despite an opening day defeat to Derbyshire, they beat Hampshire & The Isle of Wight, South Wales, Yorkshire and Cheshire to secure that all-important promotion place. They’ll play in Group 1 in the 2018 event.
But the women’s team from Cambridgeshire didn’t quite fare so well. They were still in the promotion picture on the final day on Friday, but will stay in Group 3 after finishing third.
Despite convincing wins over Lincolnshire and East of Scotland and another win over Berkshire they missed out. They lost to Northumberland and Sussex too.
And in bowls, Cambridgeshire were due to be involved in the County Finals at Haddenham at the weekend.
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Published by Daniel Baker