Match Report - Caldy (home) Sun 6 July

Conditions: Sunny and warm

So a mega weekend of British sport (Tour de France in Yorkshire, Wimbledon men's final, British Grand Prix) was completed by the Oxton lads' first home game at Townfield Lane of the season, where they hosted Caldy. Confidence was high after last week's impressive victory at Neston, though with five of the Birkenhead School players missing, it was a somewhat new-look Oxton side at took to the field.

Caldy won the toss, and somewhat surprisingly, given the heavy layer of dew on the ground, elected to bat.

Dhruv and Tom G opened the bowling well and were soon rewarded with their first wicket when Tom found the outside edge and wicketkeeper Joe B snaffled the catch. The fielding however was very sloppy, with several catching opportunities being eschewed, and a number of runs being given away needlesely by lack of concentration and technique. And the Caldy runs continued to flow freely once the regular bowlers were replaced. Harry D was in good form however and bagged a pair of wickets, whilst keeping the runs down, with some good assistance from Ollie P. Nevertheless, Caldy's middle order made hay towwrds the end of the innings, completing their 25 overs on a formidable looking 146-5.

With the outfield drying up quickly, the run chase was always on, and the opening pair of Tom G and Ben BJ put on a very impressive stand, offering few chances and keeping the scoreboard ticking at nearly 5 an over. For the second week in a row, Tom was retired on 35 not out, a feat matched a few overs by Ben. Well done to both. Things at the other end however were not quite as rosy with two golden ducks and another cheap dismissal. Again, it was Harry D who had to provide the backbone of the resistance, and though never really managing to hit top gear, kept Oxton very much in the game. Support however was increasingly patchy and the run rate crept inexorably upwards. With a couple of dismissals near the end, the Oxton reply eventually fizzled out at 124-6, 23 short of the winning target.

So a first home game and a first defeat of the season. Some of the regulars undoubtedly missed, but this was a very lacklustre performance. Let's hope we're back to winning ways next week.

Result

Caldy win by 22 runs

Scorecard

Caldy 146 for 5 (25 overs)

Batsmen		Runs	Balls	S/R	6s	4s
Ewan	c Joe B (wk) b Tom G	4	1625			1
Joe T	c Tom G b Harry D	30	36	83		3
Jack	b Harry D	27	31	87	2	2
Eden	c Harry D b Joe B	11	15	73		1
Erron	Retired not out	37	24	154		8
James	b Ollie P	4	10	40
Joe B	not out	7	14	50		1
Bank [?]	not out	2	6	33		1
Extras	11w 7nb 4b 2lb	24
Total	for 5	146	(25 overs)

Bowler	Overs	Runs	Wkts	Econ		Fall of Wicket
Dhruv	4	20	0	5.0		11	Ewan
Tom G	4	14	1	3.5		63	Jack
Harry D	4	13	2	3.25		76	Joe T
Chris F	3	23	0	7.67		85	Eden
Mackenzie R	1	7	0	7.0		105	James
Raghuram	1	11	0	11.0
Ollie P	4	17	1	4.25
Joe B	3	29	1	9.67
Ben BJ	1	12	0	12.0

Oxton 124 for 6 (25 overs)

Batsmen		Runs	Balls	S/R	6s	4s
Tom G	Retired not out	35	39	90		5
Ben BJ	Retired not out	34	55	62		3
Joe B	b Joe T	4	2	200		1
Chris F	b Jack	0	1
Harry D	c ? b Olly	17	25	68		2
Max V	c ? b Andy	0	1
Ollie P	not out
Dhruv V	run out	1	4	25
Louis	c ? b Ewan	3	8	38
Raghuram	not out	0	3
Extras	16w 2nb 6b 1b	25
Total	for 6	124	(25 overs)

Bowler	Overs	Runs	Wkts	Econ		Fall of Wicket
Ewan	4	13	1	3.25		63	Joe B
Erron	4	15	0	3.75		63	Chris F
Joe T	4	23	1	5.75		102	Max V
Jack	4	17	1	4.25		114	Harry D
James	3	17	1	5.67		116	Dhruv V
Bank [?]	2	16	0	8.0		124	Louis
JoeB	1	10	0	10.0
Andy	1	6	1	6.0
Olly	2	7	1	3.5

Worm graph for match