1st XI
This week, in glorious weather, the first XI played Wootton and Boars Hill at Cutteslowe, Barkat won the toss and elected to bat. Babbs and Child put on a brisk opening partnership 29 after which the innings stuttered to 70 for 7 as Wooton’s opening bowler, Cam King, took 5 for 18, before 49* from Gus ably assisted by Toby in a partnership of 67 for the 8th wicket saw the Wolves post 163. Parsimonious spells from all the Wolvercote bowlers, especially Kunal (3 for 26 from 10 overs) restricted Wooton to 83 for 5 at the halfway stage, although they rallied in the next 10 overs and looked like chasing down the target. However, things changed when the 3rd XI turned up to support and the re-energised Wolvercote fielders hunted for wickets, with the breakthrough coming from Chris Lynch as he effected the sharp run-out of the opposition skipper. This was followed by a destructive spell of 3 for 21 from 8 overs by Brian to finish the job in combination with a diving catch at deep midwicket from Sam Adams, leaving the Wolves victors by 27 runs.
2nd XI
The 2’s were inserted by Oxford 3’s on a belting New College wicket and racked up 201, with over half the runs coming from Rizwaan (61) and Charlie (39) (well batted lads!). Oxford chased down the necessary for the loss of 4 wickets inside 33 overs.
3rd XI
The 3’s also had a tough day at the office as they welcomed top of the league Chadlington to Kennington. Phil won the toss and elected to bat. Mark Lewis departed early to a top edge which Daniel soon emulated as the ball flew up through his grill into his eyebrow resulting in some claret spillage on the pitch. Walsh and Sprigings shored up, but just as they looked set, Walsh was caught at slip, surprised by the bounce from the Chadlington spinner’s first ball. Dan James & Toby put on a good partnership with Dan top scoring with 37. Daniel came back in sporting a bandage, and despite a couple of lusty fours, the innings subsided to 160 all out. Chadlington’s openers took a vicious attack to the bowlers with 6’s raining on the cars in the carpark. Bowling was changed frequently with only JP stabilising one end and it wasn’t long before one of the openers was aggrieved to be given LBW to JP, however, the game was already gone before the other opener fell on 89 to Joe Hill (2 for 18 off 3) and Chadlington won the game before the 30th over.
4th XI
The big story of the day was the first WIN for the 4th XI. Nick Albin, batsman and ace fielder made 43 before picking up a groin strain and being relegated to the slips. Captain Quinn scored a doughty 33 sending ther crimson rambler to all 4 corners to help the Wolves post a credible 164. Josh Cooper bowled a tidy spell of away swing and took a wicket, abetted by Quinn behind the sticks. Norm took 3 for 19 and held the catch to win the match. Shahrukh took 3 for 43 despite being 2 and a half hours late! Denty rocked up on his Triumph to support, joining many of the parents in cheering the victorious Wolves to victory.
Reports by Chris Babbs