Banbury and Finchampstead, the first two champions of the Premier League, battled out a high-scoring draw in a pulsating match on Satur- day.
Given first use of an excellent batting track, the visitors rattled up a formidable 297-3 and in reply, Finchampstead finished just two runs short of victory on 296-7.
Left-handers Chris Smith and Paul Taylor got Banbury off to an excellent start with an opening stand of 148, before the latter fell on the stroke of lunch for 87 from 112 balls with 15 fours.
Smith’s more sedate 72 came off 138 balls with five boundaries and later contributions from Craig Haupt, Richard Kaufman and Steve Beck pushed the total up to 297-9 before the declaration left the hosts 55 overs.
They began steadily with partnerships of 66 and 60 for the first two wickets, and with 194 still required off 24 overs at tea, the match appeared to be heading for draw.
However, Brian Clemow and Paul Carter had other ideas, adding 130 in 15 overs for the fourth wicket before both were run out in successive balls.
Both had earlier been dropped – Clemow on 42 and Carter on one – but their partnership set up a thrilling finish, aided by Steve Bloyce’s 19 off just eight balls.
However, two wickets in a tense final over enabled Banbury to secure a thrilling draw.
BANBURY
C Smith lbw Clemow…72
P Taylor c&b Clemow…87
C Haupt c Bloyce b Taylor…48
R Kaufman not out…40
S Beck not out…21
Extras…29
Total (3 wkts, 68ov)…297
Fall: 1-148, 2-192, 3-262.
Bowling: Denning 6-0-27-0, Bloyce 8-0-36-0, Taylor 19-56-1, Clemow 19-3-63-2, Carter 21-0-96-0.
FINCHAMPSTEAD
S Seymour c Haupt b Launder…30
B Clemow run out…125
A Hobbs c Adams b P Taylor…16
S Brogan lbw Launder…9
P Carter run out…68
A Jones not out…0
S Bloyce c Kaufman b Phillips…19
S Taylor b Phillips…0
Extras…29
Total (7 wkts, 55ov)…296
Fall: 1-66, 1-126, 3-145, 4-275, 5-276, 6-295, 7-296.
Bowling: Phillips 21-2-117-2, Launder 14-1-87-2, Murrey 8-2-47-0, Adams 4-0-15-0, P Taylor 5-1-11-1, Smith 1-0-3-0, Kaufman 1-0-7-0.
Banbury 14pts, Finchampstead 8