1st XI
The 1s lost the toss away at Hanbrough and were asked to bat on a fast-paced pitch with variable bounce and produced an excellent example of a how to construct an innings to post a competitive 242: Mark and Chris saw off a hostile spell from the opening bowlers before Mark was caught off his glove defending his throat from one that popped from the spinner and Chris fell victim to the Harborough tactic of appealing for EVERYTHING as he was given LBW having middled it onto his foot. Deepak and then Amit revealed the silver lining to these apparant misfortunes by accelerating the innings spectacularly in the middle overs. After Deepak also fell to a questionable LBW, Samir contined to put the Hanborough spinners to the sword and in the final over Gus smashed 2 enormous sixes and was caught off the last ball of the 50th over trying to hit a third. All the bowlers found the right length to exploit the pitch. Rahul was on especially miserly form bowling his alloted 10 overs for 13 and taking 2 wickets. Samir was in similarly parsimonious nick taking 2 for 19 in his 10. Brian and Amit mopped up the tail, finishing with 2 wickets apiece and Toby was very unfortunate not to be rewarded. This puts the 1’s in sixth place in a tightly grouped division with an arithmetical chance of finishing third with a win next week.
2nd XI
The 2s hosted Broughton & North Newington and batted first and with run-outs accounting for Ben and Richie and Gareth showing off a bruise in the pub that suggested the stumps must have been double height if his LBW decsion was corrrect. The 2’s posted a sub-par 99 in part owing to these mishaps. Broughton had to fight for the runs and took 31.5 overs at a cost of 4 wickets before they overhauled the 2’s score. This result secures the 2’s a place in the top 3 in division 6A with a shot at the top spot if results go their way next week.
3rd XI
At Kennington, captained this week Ayyaz (huge thanks for taking this on!), the 3’s were asked to field by Freeland 1’s. All the bowlers did well to restrict Freeland to 139 there were wickets for Ayyaz, Irfan and Coles but Ajay (4-20 from 9) was the pick and a highlight being a wicket for Ed Bewes on his maiden Cherwell League outing. The Wolves reply was based around 33 from opener Sarosh and 30 from middle order powerhouse Jason before Irfan and Ayyaz saw us home in the 35th over. Brilliant work that secures 3’s second spot in the division and presumably ensures promotion.
4th XI
The 4’s game was conceeded by Ox and Bletch Nondies, maintining the 4’s comfortably mid-table. position Sorry you missed out this week and hoping for a good game to close out the league season next week.