The 4ths travelled to Oxford to take on Oxford & Bletchington 3rds and came away with a 6 wicket victory.
Oxford & Bletchington won the toss and decided to bat. With a nice cross breeze blowing, there was plenty of swing around for Banbury’s opening bowlers, but some early chances were missed. Mark Wright finally made the breakthrough with wickets in consecutive overs to reduce the home team to 31-3. J Ahmadzi came in and took on the Banbury bowlers with some lusty blows off the seam bowlers. Meanwhile, James Morgan was bowling an excellent line at the other end to keep the pressure on. At 74-4, Ian (Swampy) Adams came into the attach and had immediate success as the home team struggled to cope with his line and extra pace. Once Ahmadzi was out, the wickets fell regularly, with Kieran Scott taking an excellent catch off Swampy, as the home team all out for 109. Swampy finished with 4-8 off 5 overs (oxygen unaided), James Morgan had 3-24 off 11 overs and Mark Wright 2-27 off 8 overs.
In reply, Banbury got off to a great start with James Mitchelmore and Kieran Scott putting on 78 for the 1st wicket with some terrific shots and excellent running. Kieran finally ran out of luck and was bowled for 22. Mitch then smacked a full toss straight to mid-wicket to end a great knock of 56. This triggered a few nervous moments as Adnan Ahmed and Swampy were both out for ducks reducing Banbury to 85-4. However, the ever reliable Richard Lambden made a quick fire 21 not out to get Banbury home in 24th over.
It was another excellent bowling performance by Banbury which made it 3 wins from the 3 for the season, which puts them at the top of Division 8.
Many thanks again to Pete Scott for scoring and helping with the transport and to Richard Lambden for being able to play at the last minute.