It was a tell-tale story of Oxford Downs continuing their 50-over domination with a 100-run victory over Wargrave, who have come up short this year, and find themselves bottom of the table, having only won one game.
Putting 298 on the board would always be difficult for the struggling side. But it was Will Watts’ day as he produced his first century of the year in fine style. A collected innings of 141 balls enabled George Sandbach to bat with slightly more license at the other end.
The 159 partnership dealt enough damage, as the two batters enjoyed time at the crease, totalling 11 fours and 3 sixes between them.
Wargrave tried to get going, but their batters failed to make any real headway. Delport and Welch dealt the majority of the damage with the ball, picking up three wickets each. By that point, the game was done, and Wargrave was left stranded in the 40th over, 100 runs short.
High Wycombe won by considerable margins over Harefield after George Russell and Dan Lincoln picked up maiden centuries for the club.
Russell was more patient, batting most of the innings and facing 119 balls. He still totalled more boundaries than Will Watts with 8 fours and 4 sixes. The partnership between the pair consisted of 207 runs, and Dan Lincoln’s 134 came quickly, from just 108 balls as he blasted 16 fours and 5 sixes.
352 was always going to be out of Harefield’s reach as they scrambled to 200 all out in the 49th over. Once Cameron Parsons dismissed dangerman Severin for 45, the Harefield batters showed a real lack of application, with only five players getting into double figures.
Once again, Conner Haddow picked up 4-18 off his 10-over spell, and Max Uttley picked up 3-29 in a day favouring spin.
Finchampstead continued their run of form, remaining undefeated.
They took on Aston Rowant and won by 107 runs. They were the only other team to score above 300 this weekend, mainly due to Gregory Smith and Chris Britz.
Gregory Smith is averaging over 55 so far this year, with 167 runs from just 3 innings. He amassed 25 fours and a single six, picking up 20% of his team’s runs. With him, alongside Britz, who this year alone has struck 245 runs across all formats, with a century and half-century already ticked off, Finchampstead looked poised for another victory.
Yet, none of the final six batters managed to get above 10, which begs the question: how large the Finchampstead score could have been had Britz and Smith continued their rampage?
Mathews did his best to mitigate the barrage of runs being dealt by Finch, with four wickets of his own. But with the bat, no one in the Rowant camp put their hands up to take the game forward.
A couple of thirties from Mctaggart, Mathews, and Condon allowed them to climb to 197, but they ultimately fell well short of the target without real application.
Bulteel and Britz shared the celebrations with the ball as they picked up three wickets. Britz was the slightly more economical of the pair, only conceding 27 runs in his ten-over spell.
Stoke Green upset Henley, bowling out last year’s champions for just 159 in the second innings.
Having batted first, Stoke Green climbed to a par-score of 214 with Shivam Mishra anchoring the innings at six. With 70 on the board from him and a further 31 added by Passikku Madusanka, the late innings striking put Stoke Green in a defendable position. With Singh adding a quick 20 and Abbasi doing similarly, Stoke Green’s innings consisted of a few individuals chipping in whilst Mishra was in dominant form.
Jon Denning picked up another three wickets as he continued his form for Henley. He was economical, too, having only conceded 30 runs in his 10-over spell.
Besides Charlie Dunnett, who is seeing success at both the HCPCL and NCCA levels, Henley failed to find much form with the bat. Ideally, needing someone to partner up with Dunnett to add to the flow of runs, Henley weren’t quite able to chip in like their rivals.
Dunnett’s innings cannot be ignored, though, as he made 88 from 110 balls, including 13 fours and a six. In his four games, he’s amassed 279 runs at an average of almost 70, showing that he’s the batter that Henley is relying on this year.
Shivam Mishra was the talk of the day. Not only did he hold the bat for his side and keep them going, but he also dealt the most damage with the ball, picking up 3-30 in eight overs. Both Butt and Madusanka also picked up two each, and Henley was left 55 runs short in the 45th over.
Finally, Great Brickhill managed a surprising victory over Banbury, who have had a mixed start to the season.
Winning the toss and electing to bat ultimately paid off, as both Taran Toor and Jonathan Cater picked up half-centuries.
Toor’s 75 from 114 was just another notch in his tidy belt, as he’s been averaging just over 42 so far this year. With 128 runs in just three innings, he’s poised to be the dangerman for the Brickhill batters and arguably someone teams need to target early on with the ball.
Banbury looked promising as both Joe White and Arjun Ramkumar picked up half-centuries of their own. But perhaps, they played it too cautiously, with Coyne adding 37 and Tait totalling 23.
Having struck nine from the penultimate over, Banbury would have been full of confidence, requiring just 10 from the final over. But some tight bowling from Raykar picked up a wicket on the first ball, dismissing the in-batsman George Tait and ultimately won the game for his side.
