Banbury 4th’s hosted Kingston Bagpuise 2nd’s at home on Saturday in a see-sawing match that eventually ended in a winning draw for Banbury.
Banbury loss the toss and were asked to bat first. Despite a solid looking batting line-up, Banbury were in early trouble , reduced to 26-3 in the 7th over, with Micthelmore (0), Adnan Ahmed (0) and Anas Ahmed (18) all back in the shed. However, the ever reliable Richard Lambden and Justin Lambden re-built the innings for Banbury. The pair managed to keep the run-rate ticking over at around 4 runs per over, with both players confidence picking up. With Richard fist to each his 50, shortly followed by Justin, the 2 had put on a 112 run partnership before Richard was finally out lbw for 52 in the 33rd over. Justin continued to place the ball extremely well through field, but was finally out for caught behind 67 trying one late cut to many. With some late blows from Andy Jones (17) and Sion Charlesworth-Jones (17 not out), Banbury finished on 201-7, which was a good recover after the spluttering start.
With Banbury’s turn to bowl, Mark Wright struck early, with a brilliant catch by Adnan Ahmed at 1st slip, to have Kingston 11-1. Arthur Verdin played his shots for Kingston, but was finally out for 30. This brought Kevin Shepherd to the crease who immediately took the Banbury bowling attack apart in a rapid fire 50. With Paul Temple ticking over the singles at the other end, Kingston had progressed to 143-2 off 30 overs to have victory well within their sights. However, Justin Lambden got the vital breakthrough, dismissing Shepherd for 68, to an excellently judged catch at square leg by Alex Mobbs. The match was still tight with Kingston skipper Temple at the crease as Kingston progressed to 172-3, now needing 30 runs off 7 overs with 7 wickets left. Andy Jones then caught and bowled Piper for 7, followed by a great run out by Dan Bartlett at cover, followed by 2 wickets for Justin Lambden, including the vital wicket of Temple for 36, to leave Kingston reeling 179 for 7 with only 4 overs now remaining. Another caught and bowled for Jones and another wicket for Justin Lambden, now reduced Kingston to 179-9 with 2 overs remaining as Kingston had lost 6 wickets for 7 runs in the space of 5 overs. However, despite a couple of near chances, Banbury were unable to get the final wicket as Kingston finished on 180-9 and the match ended in a draw. The best bowlers for Banbury were Justin Lambden with 4-31 (off 14 overs), Andy Jones with 2-36 (off 9 overs) and Mark Wright 2-50 (off 9 overs).
Banbury came back well to secure the draw in a match they had looked destined to lose at one stage. With 18 points from the match, Banbury remain in 2nd place in the Division 8 table with 4 matches left.