An Excellent team performance keeps the 2nds on top

On a warm windy day Banbury played host to Cumnor at white post road.   

Banbury’s skipper Wayne Hazell lost the toss and Cumnor’s skipper decided to have a bat first. 

Banbury opened their bowling attack with Ross Freeman and Skipper Wayne Hazell. With only 10 runs on the board Hazell struck in his second over having Scott caught behind having not troubled the scorers. With Ross Freeman providing some accurate and steady bowling Hazell struck again in his fourth over bowling Robertson. With the score on 26 for 2 Cumnor’s batsmen knuckled down and played themselves in on a pitch that gave some aide to the bowlers. J Nielson 52 and G Gaunt put on 98 runs for the 3rd wicket with the score on 114 C Board had Nielson caught by an excellent one handed catch above his head by Paul Hill in the 36th over. With 14 overs to go and the score on 122 Cumnor began to play some aggressive shots and Mortaza helped with 2 big sixes in his quick fire 26, he was finally caught at square leg by Joe White off C Board. Wickets then began to fall at regular intervals for the visitors and then ended their innings on a total of 213 all out. C Board returned figures of 17overs 2 maidens 4 for 60 and Skipper Hazell has his first 6 wicket haul for the club ending with 12 overs 1 maiden 6 for 60. 

Banbury opened the batting with Andrew Sabin and Ed Phillips, Sabin was soon riding his luck edging the ball through the slip area a number of times, however Phillips luck and time at the crease only lasted one ball, he was LBW to Easterbrook off the first ball in the second over. Will Cooper joined Sabin at the crease and looked straight and steady from the off. With the wicket still helping the bowlers Cooper tried to work the ball to the leg side and was bowled by Easterbrook having scored six. With the score on 26 Chris Board joined Sabin at the crease, having scored 50 last week Board began as he did against Bicester and North Oxford by dispatching the ball to all parts of the boundary. With Sabin at the other end he and Board began to dominate the bowling attack with aggressive stroke play and quick running between the stumps. With Board pushing the ball around and calling Sabin through for quick singles Sabin began to tire and after a 149 run partnership Sabin was caught off the bowling of Slade having made and excellent 83. With the score on 178, Banbury required 35 runs off 4 overs. Ashley Pearson joined Board at the crease but only managed to score 3 runs, next in was Banbury’s skipper Hazell with one intention in mind to score quick runs. Having made a quick 18 runs which included a 6 off Khan over long on sight screen Hazell was given out run out to a dubious decision in the 49th over. With Banbury needing 5 runs in the last over it was left to Ashley Blanchard and Chris Board to score the winning runs. Blanchard ending with 4 not out and Board ended with and excellent 89 not out.  

“An excellent all round performance from the whole team today, its hard to pick out hero’s when the team perform this well but I would like to thank Simon Hole for his work on getting the ground in an excellent playing condition given the unseasonable weather we have had recently. This win keeps Banbury on top in Division 1 and play host to Buckingham in a top of the table clash next week.  

Cumnor Innings

Batsman                       How Out                    Bowler

GScott                          Ct Phillips                  WHazell             0

J Nielson                      Ct Hill                        C Board             52

A Robertson                 Bowled                      W Hazell            5

G Gaunt                        Ct White                     W Hazell            64

A Mortaza                     Ct White                     C Board             26

J Douglas                     Ct Hazell                    C Board             14

M Nielson                      CtHill                         W Hazell            6

A Khan                          Bowled                      C Board             15

A Kelly                          Ct Smith                     W Hazell            3

S Slade                         Not                             Out                    6

J Easterbrook               LBW                           W Hazell            0  

                                                            Total 213 all out

W Hazell        12overs 1mdns         6 for 60  

C Board         17overs 2mdns         4 for 60

Banbury Innings

Batsman                              How Out          Bowler

A Sabin                                Ct Khan          Slade                     83

E Phillips                             LBW                Easterbrook          0

W Cooper                             Bowled           Easterbrook          6

C Board                                NOT                OUT                        89

A Pearson                            Bowled          Khan                       3

W Hazell                               RUN                OUT                        18

A Blanchard                         NOT                OUT                        4

                                                            Total 217 for 5.