Match report - Chester BH (away) Sun 4 May

Conditions: Overcast, cool, but dry

Much excitement ahead of the opening fixture of the 2014 campaign. A slightly different look this year as last year's U11s are merged with the older year to form this year's U13s. And of course a different format, as we ditch the fixed batting overs and start to play real 25 over matches (out when you're out, lbw, stumpings and the rest), Just hoping that we get the same weather as we did last season, when the team managed to play all their games without a single weather interruption.

Chester won the toss and put Oxton into bat first.

Raghuram and Tom G opened the batting against some good, accurate bowling, but managed to keep the scoreboard ticking over by running well between the wickets and finding the odd boundary, before Tom got a stump removed in the 5th over. In the next over, Jack C lifted his head and played across a straight delivery and followed Tom back to the hutch for a single. Enter Harry D, who'd warmed up well by bludgeoning the opposition bowling in his school debut last week, and who continued in a similar vein today, peppering the boundary with 7 fours before being retired on 37 not out. Very next ball, Raghuram, who had provided solid support at the other end, was bowled out for 17, bringing together a new partnership of Sam P and Ollie P. Unfortunately, birthday boy Ollie went for almost exactly the same shot as Jack C earlier, and ended up with the same result, being bowled by Danny P. Straight bat next time Ollie! This brought Josh C to the crease and the start of a fruitful partnership with Sam, taking the score briskly on to 123 by the 20th over. After mistiming a few, new man in Max V soon started to find the centre of the bat to keep the score moving. Sam progressed to 35 before being retired in the 23rd over. Ben B-J was unlucky with a good straight delivery first ball, before Dhruv joined Max to see out the final couple of overs, taking the final total up to a very respectable looking 154-6.

Chester weren't about to lie down though, and their opening pair of Joseph W and Jack B got off to a brisk start, almost matching the Oxton innnigs run for run for the first 20 overs. Will L eventually managed to break the opening stand at the end of the eighth over by bowling Joseph. Alex W was in very good form and the partnership with Jack B formed the backbone of the innings, both batsmen retiring. Still neck and neck after 20 overs, the match was set up for a thrilling finale. Fortunately, excellent second spells from Jack C, Dhruv and Tom G managed to throttle the Chester run chase whilst picking up regular wickets, which saw a superb over the shoulder catch by Jack C at cover and a good take behind the stumps by Max. Ollie P was entrusted with the ball for the last over and celebrated his birthday well by keeping it tight and restricting Chester to 137-6 off their alotted 25 overs.

A really evenly balanced game against a well turned out and friendly club - great start to the season Oxton!

Result

Oxton win by 17 runs.

Scorer's Man of the Match (Oxton)

Harry D

Tip for next match

A great start to the season. Let's just try to keep the extras down - we gave away 27 in this match

 

Scorecard

Oxton 154 for 6 (25 overs)

Batsmen		Runs	Balls	S/R	6s	4s
Raghuram	b Brannigan	17	36	47		2
Tom G	b Jack B	8	16	50		1
Jack C	b Will H	1	4	25
Harry D	Retired	37	24	154		7
Ollie P	b Danny P	1	3	33
Josh C	Run out	15	20	75		2
Sam P	Retired	35	29	121		7
Max V	not out	10	10	100		1
Ben B-J	b Will H	0	1
Dhruv	not out	6	10	60
Extras	13nb 5w 1b 1lb	0
Total	for 6	154	(25 overs)

Bowler	Overs	Runs	Wkts	Econ		Fall of Wicket
Abraham	2.0	15	0	7.5		24	Tom G
Alex W	2.0	20	0	10.0		26	Jack C
Brannigan	3.0	30	1	10.0		77	Raghuram
Danny P	3.0	12	1	4.0		79	Ollie P
Jack B	3.0	12	1	4.0		123	Josh C
Joseph W	3.0	24	0	8.0		137	Ben B-J
Nick B	3.0	16	0	5.33
Will H	4.0	14	2	3.5
Will M	2.0	11	0	5.5

Chester Boughton Hall 137 for 6 (25 overs)

Batsmen		Runs	Balls	S/R	6s	4s
Joseph W	b Will L	10	23	43		1
Jack B	Retired	33	39	85		6
Alex W	Retired	36	28	129		7
Nick B	b Jack C	15	19	79	1	1
Will H	c Max V b Dhruv	2	11	18
Brannigan	c Jack C b Dhruv	1	6	17
Wright		5	12	42
Danny P	b Tom G	3	5	60
Sheehan	Run out	3	4	75
Will M		2	4	50
Extras	2nb 12w 12b 1lb	27
Total	for 6	137	(25 overs)

Bowler	Overs	Runs	Wkts	Econ		Fall of Wicket
Josh C	2.0	21	0	10.5		35	Joseph W
Dhruv	4.0	15	2	3.75		116	Nick B
Harry D	3.0	17	0	5.67		121	Brannigan
Jack C	4.0	15	1	3.75		124	Will H
Ollie P	1.0	4	0	4.0		128	Danny P
Raghuram	2.0	9	0	4.5		132	Sheehan
Sam P	2.0	23	0	11.5
Tom G	4.0	19	1	4.75
Will L	3.0	14	1	4.67

Worm graph for the match