A fine performance in the field, spearheaded by Paul Taylor, saw Banbury through to the regional final of the ECB National Knockout on Sunday. Banbury’s visit to Dunstall CC ending in a 24 run victory over the Derbyshire Premier League side in a match which looked as if it may have gone all the way to the wire.
Taylor scarcely bowled a bad ball in his eight overs at the picturesque setting of the Dunstall Estate. He conceded just 11 runs and took 3 wickets on a return to one of his old stomping grounds from his Derbyshire days.
Earlier Banbury had made 180 on a slow wicket, but had committed the cardinal sin of not using all of their allotted overs as Luke Ryan, Banbury’s top scorer on the day, holed out to long off on the first ball of the 43rd over. Ryan (36) and Jaimie Noble (35) had built Banbury’s most meaningful partnership (59 runs) before Noble’s dismissal sparked a mini collapse as 3 wickets fell for the addition of 1 run. The visitors were left scratching around in the final overs when at one point it looked as if they may have posted a score of in excess of 220.
However, fresh from a rest from cricket on Saturday, Ollie Murray got Banbury off to the best possible start. The aggressive medium pacer trapped two of the home battsmen LBW in his first 3 overs and showed the virtues of bowling straight on a wicket on which the odd ball was keeping low. Steve Beck’s direct hit run out from the boundary kept the momentum with the Oxfordshire side in an incident packed first 10 overs.
Taylor replaced Murray and Jimmy Phillips replaced another aggressive medium pacer Eddie Smith as Banbury kept the pressure on the home side with some tight bowling. Phillips’ off spin picking up 2 for 24 while Taylor was working his magic at the other end.
However Dunstall’s Captain Stuart Eustace had stood firm all the while, playing some wristy and inventive strokes and when he found a partner in fast bowler Chris Jennings it looked as if Dunstall may just have had enough to sneak over the line, the home side at one stage needing just 40 of 7 overs with 5 wickets remaining.
Luke Ryan and Jaimie Noble formed their second effective partnership of the day however as their accurate slow bowling made life difficult for Dunstall’s would be match winners and eventually the spinners removed one each of the dangerous pair. Paul Taylor then returned to mop up the tail and capture two richly deserved wickets as Banbury got home by 24 runs.
A job well done, Banbury now play at home on July the 1st in the Regional Final.
Scorecard below in seperate story.