The 4ths travelled to Cokethorpe School for a top of the table clash with Oxford Downs with an slightly understrength team.
The day didn’t start great as Banbury turned up with 12 players due to the skippers miscalculations! Once the team had been sorted out, Banbury won the toss and elected to bowl first. Some good early bowling from Mark Wright and Mark Pallet created a few chances, but Banbury were unable to hold onto these. Finally however, Mark Pallett managed the breakthrough to leave Downs 40-1 12 overs. This brought T Hardy to the crease who started watchfully before dispatching all of the Banbury bowlers to various parts of the ground. Downs progress was slowed slightly as James Mitchelmore picked up to wickets, but Downs eventually declared on 263-3 off 39 overs with T Hardy finishing 138 not out. Best bowlers for Banbury were Mark Pallett with 1-25 off 7 overs, while Mitch picked up 2-57 off 7 overs. Mark Wright bowled very tightly in his first spell, but copped some stick from Hardy in his second spell to finish with 0-62 off 13 overs.
With Banbury’s turn to bat, having to face 51 overs due to the declaration, early runs were hard to come by. Mitch and Kieran Scott put on a solid opening partnership before Kieran was dubiously adjusted LBW for 20. A couple of quick wickets then had Banbury in trouble at 45-3 off 17 overs and a long tail still to come. However, Mike Salmon and Andy Jones rode a little bit of luck, played their shots and eventually put on 112 for the 4th wicket in 28 overs before Mike Salmon was finally out for patient and very well played 41. With 6 overs left, Banbury’s main aim was to secure the draw, but with wickets falling quickly, Banbury were down to 163-6 with 2 overs left. Off the last ball of the penultimate over, Andy Jones out for 74 to the second highly dubious LBW decision of the day. This left Mark Wright to negotiate the last over which he did comfortably with lovely cover drive for 4 to leave Banbury at 175-7 at the end and a draw salvaged.
It as a tough day for the team, especially for some of the younger members of the team, but a draw was still secured for the Team which showed some good fighting spirit. Many thanks again to Peter Scott for scoring and providing some transport.