This report was first published by Oxfordshire Cricket.
Wolvercote beat Abingdon Vale and Goring to win their second piece of silverware for the season – beating Vale in the semi and Goring in the final to win the U13s League competition at Great and Little Tew.
The first semi-final of the day saw Wolvercote beat Abingdon Vale by 72 runs. Batting first, Wolvercote set 182-5 from their 20 overs, with Cowley and Beard retiring for 31 and 35 respectively. Lovell and Smith scored helpful 20’s to put one foot in the final. However, Abingdon Vale came out all guns blazing and at 83-3 after 8 overs looked set on to reach their target, thanks mainly to Pulimi’s 38* and Goyal’s 25. Unfortunately a collapse which included 5 run outs saw them fall to 110 all out, 72 runs short of their target.
Semi-final 2 was between Cropredy and Goring, with the former batting first. Losing early wickets, Cropredy fell to 39-5 and looked to be out of it. However, runs from Thomas (23) and Sirimanne (26) saw them recover to a defendable 83 all out. Logan, Burch and Lord took 3 wickets each with Dineen rounding out the bowlers. In reply, Goring started steadily, losing their openers early, Walsh was required to steady the ship and along with contributions from Galbraith, Logan and Bennett saw his side over the line with 2 overs to spare, giving them a spot in the final with Wolvercote.
After a short break, the final got underway, with Wolvercote batting first. Contributions from Ricks, Cowley and du Plessis put their side in a good position but the pick of the batters were Lovell and Bratby – both looking to accelerate and set as high a target as possible. After 20 overs, Goring needed 140 runs to win the trophy. However, Wolvercote shone in the field, reducing Goring to 36-6. Unfortunately that did not come and they slumped to 63 all out, handing victory to Wolvercote by 76 runs. Pick of the bowlers was Lovell, who finished with figures of 3-7 from his 3 overs.
The presentation of the trophy and medals was conducted by Joe Clapton (Finals Day Manager for the day) who thanked Great and Little Tew for hosting, the umpires, coaches, scorers and all the teams for a great day of cricket. Thank you to all clubs who competed in this year’s Competition, and we look forward to seeing more great cricket over the summer.