Match Report - Neston (away) Sun 29 June

Conditions: Warm, dry, but breezy after heavy overnight rain

After suffering a comprehensive defeat by Neston in the Cup less than two weeks ago, it was interesting to see if Oxton could regroup and maintain their unbeaten record in the League.

After torrential rain during the night, full marks to the Neston ground staff for actually managing to get a playable pitch ready, even if it meant restricting the bowling to one end only. Given the wet ground but sunny and breezy conditions, this was a toss that captain Jack C needed to win, and win he did, deciding to put Neston in whilst the outfield was still wet.

The Oxton opening bowlers responded with some very tight bowling, and the in the very first over, five dot balls from Dhruv were followed by a brilliant one-stump direct hit by Luke C fielding at point to run out the Neston number 1. Neston however settled and built up some solid partnerships, with Will C dropping anchor for almost the entire innings. Whilst some of the Oxton fielding was a little sloppy, Louis was very solid again behind the timbers, keeping the byes to a minimum, whilst a fine overhead catch by Luke sent the Neston back to the hutch. Neston never really got on top of the Oxton bowling and only in the last couple of overs did they manage to accelerate the scoring. Two run outs in the final eventful over brought the score to a respectable, but not unassailable 124-5.

This set Oxton a target run rate of exactly 5 an over and with the outfield drying up rapidly in the sunshine, there was always the sense that it was match on. Jack B and Tom G opened the Oxton batting, and with some great running between the wickets, punctuated by a few boundaries, the partnership put on 35 in 7 overs before Jack was bowled. Captain Jack C continued the good work, and by the time he was out in the 15th over, Oxton had laid the foundations from which to attack. Unfortunately Sam P and Harry D were perhaps a bit too attack-minded and fell in quick succession, allowing a few jitters to enter the Oxton camp, just as they did a few weeks earlier against Tranmere Victoria. This time, Oxton had Ed T to steady the ship and he played a vital innings, defending the straight balls, scoring off the rest. All the while, at the other end, Tom G had steadily accumulated runs, nudging single after single down to fine leg, with a couple of well-timed cover drives thrown in for the cameras. When he retired on 35, Raghuram picked up where Tom had left off, and batted responsibly to the penultimate over. With Oxton closing in on an impressive victory, it was left to Ed to finish the innings off in style, dispatching the ball over mid wicket for 6. With a final score of 125-5 off 23 overs, this was the perfect riposte to the Cup defeat two weeks ago.

Result

Oxton win by 5 wickets

Scorecard

Neston 124 for 5 (25 overs)

Batsmen		Runs	Balls	S/R	6s	4s
Ethan	Run out (Luke C)	0	6
Will C	Run out	26	60	43		1
Elliot	b Jack C	22	20	110		4
Nick	c Luke C b Harry D	10	15	67		2
Alec	Retired not out	36	38	95		2
Luke	Run out	11	9	122		2
Jacob	not out	5	3	167		1
Extras	4w 5nb 2b 3lb	14
Total	for 5	124	(25 overs)

Bowler	Overs	Runs	Wkts	Econ		Fall of Wicket
Dhruv	4	22	0	5.5		0	Ethan
Jack B	4	13	0	4.67		29	Elliot
Jack C	3	8	1	2.67		43	Nick
Tom G	3	15	0	5.0		113	Alec
Harry D	3	17	1	5.67		124	Will C
Ed T	3	14	0	4.67
Sam P	2	17	0	8.5
Will L	3	18	0	6.0

Oxton 125 for 5 (23 overs)

Batsmen		Runs	Balls	S/R	6s	4s
Jack B	b Josh	17	23	74		2
Tom G	Retired (not out)	35	53	66		2
Jack C	b Will C	20	21	95		3
Sam P	b Elliot	4	3	133		1
Harry D	c? b Tom	0	3
Ed T	not out	24	16	150	1	3
Raghuram	c? b Will C	13	17	76		2
Louis	not out	1	1	100
Extras	9w 1nb 1b	11
Total	for 5	125	(22.5 overs)

Bowler	Overs	Runs	Wkts	Econ		Fall of Wicket
Alec	4	15	0	3.75		35	Jack B
Nick	2	9	0	4.5		71	Jack C
Luke J	4	13	0	3.25		76	Sam P
Josh	2	9	1	4.5		77	Harry D
Jacob	2	11	0	5.5		118	Raghuram
Will C	2.5	30	2	10.59
Elliot	2	10	1	5.0
Tom J	3	17	1	5.67
Max	1	11	0	11.0

Worm graph for match