The 4th’s hosted Oxford & Bletchington III’s at home on saturday. After winning the toss again, Banbury elected to bowl first on another slightly green looking wicket.
A tight opening spell from Mark Wright and Dan Bartlet made runs hard to come by for Oxford as the first 10 overs yielded only 11 runs. Mark Wright made the initial breakthrough and would have had another wicket had he not bowled a no-ball. Sam Manning achieved the 2nd wicket for Banbury, but despite the tight bowling from Banbury, wickets were still hard to come by as Oxford progressed to 102-2 of 32 overs (aided by some bad fielding from Banbury). Although Andy Jones and James Mitchelmore picked up some late wickets, bad fielding and some dropped catches enabled Oxford to finish on 158-6 off their 45 overs. Best bowlers for Banbury were Mark Wright with 1-14 off 10 overs and James Mitchelmore with 2-30 off 8 overs.
With Banbury’s turn to bat, it was mixture of youth and experience to open the innings as Kieran Scott opened with Martin (Chairman) Phillips making his 4th team debut for the year. Again, runs were hard to come by for Banbury as the limped to 19-0 off 10 overs. Some lively responses by the Chairman to the short bowling from Oxford providing the early interest. The Chairman was fist out, bowled by one that kept low for 9, while Kieran had battled well before being stumped for 17, leaving Banbury on 39-2 off 20 overs. However, Adnan Ahmed and James Mitchelmore started to pick the runs off and up the scoring rate. As Oxford’s bowlers tired, the scoring became a little easier for Banbury, but Adnan and Mitch stuck to the task and both eventually brought up the 50’s and got Banbury home in the 38th over to win by 8 wickets. Adnan finished 61 not out (his first 50 for the club) and Mitch continued his excellent form to finish 59 not out as the 2 put on 127 for the 3rd wicket.
With Great Tew 3rds losing to Didcot 3rds, the win took Banbury to the top of the Division 8 table.