On a fair and mildly humid day Banbury 2nd XI travelled to the Taylor Oval to face Great Tew.
On winning the toss Banbury’s skipper Wayne Hazell decided to have a bat first. With Andy Sabin away this week Banbury opened the batting with Ashley Pearson and Ed Phillips whose job it was to see off the new ball bowlers Anthony Smith and Lloyd Brock. Banbury’s plan took a backward step in the very first over when A smith had Ashley Pearson caught in the slips without troubling the scorers. Will Cooper joined Phillips at the crease and settled into a nice rhythm and soon started to score runs freely. However, Phillips was soon to depart top edging a ball to backward square leg having scored three runs.
With Banbury on 18 for 2 the task ahead seemed difficult. Lachland Marshall joined Cooper at the crease and both began to send the ball to the boundary with ease. Cooper and Marshall kept the scoreboard ticking over nicely until Marshall, expecting a short ball from Tew’s Anthony Smith, was set on his back foot to pull the ball but received a full length delivery which he managed to get the bat on but unfortunately it was straight back to the bowler for a comfortable catch. Marshall had made a rapid 22. Chris Board joined Cooper at the crease and both batsmen began to dominate the bowling. Having put on an excellent 105 run partnership during which both Cooper and Board notched up half centuries, Cooper was the next to depart when he was run out pushing for quick runs, having made an impressive 58 runs – an innings which consisted of seven fours and a six.
Banbury’s skipper Hazell joined Board at the crease with the intention of scoring quickly with wickets in hand. Hazell scored a quick fire 26. Young Ashley Blanchard joined Board to finish off the innings and after 50 overs Banbury closed on 238 for 5, with Board finishing on 69 not out and Blanchard 8 not out.
“After a cautious start I was happy to finish off with 238 runs on the board, this was helped by some exceptional batting in the middle order by Will Cooper and Chris Board and Great Tews bowling being wayward at times helping the innings along with 51 extras”.
Banbury opened their bowling attack with the ever dependable Simon Launder and Skipper Wayne Hazell. With only 8 runs on the board Hazell struck in his second over having Clayton caught behind. Launder was soon opening his account in the very next over having Waytt caught behind. With the score on 8 for 2 Banbury’s skipper was expecting some dogged batting from Tew but they continued to play their shots and Launder struck again having Tew’s Skipper Forkner caught behind. 19 for 3 soon became 20 for 4 when in the next over Hazell got his second wicket having Parkin caught at mid on by Alex Blanchard. Hazell then turned to young Ashley Blanchard, who with Simon Launder bowling superbly at the other end bowled beautifully well – some balls were absolutely unplayable. In his seventh over Launder was rewarded with his 3rd wicket having K Taylor caught with the score on 28. At this point Hazell set an attacking field and to their credit Great Tews young Jack Taylor and wannabe rugby player Lloyd Brock began to score freely if not with a bit of luck on their side. Blanchard was rewarded for his excellent spell of bowling having Jack Taylor caught. With the score on 53 for 6 Brock began to free up his powerful rugby shoulders and smash the ball to all parts of the Taylor Oval.
Having had brief bowling spells from Alex Blanchard, Paul Hill and Ollie Murrey, Hazell turned back to Launder to try and finish off Tews innings. Launder was rewarded with his 4th wicket in his 14th over and his 5th wicket in his 15th over – by this point Launder was feeling the strain and with time against Banbury to bowl their allotted overs, the Skipper turned to Ashley Blanchard and Ollie Murrey to sprint through their overs to get as many in as possible and to get that last wicket. With Tew on 190 and with time up, Murrey had the last dramatic over. With what seemed to be the last ball of the game Murrey bowled a full toss on leg stump which was hit to deep backward square leg by Anthony Smith but was dropped by the ever dependable Chris Board. Having made a comment to the umpires that it should be a no ball and running through for a single, the umpire correctly called a no ball which left Brock to face the last ball. Up steps Murrey and with joy and delight knocks over Brock’s off stump.
What a game, another excellent all round team performance. The heroes of the day are Will Cooper 58 and Chris Board 69 and Simon Launder who returned figures of 16 overs; 6 maidens; 5 for 31 and of course, Olley Murrey.
Chris Board takes over as Captain for the next game at home to Dinton due to Hazell having to attend a wedding. Banbury also welcome back Milton Keynes Park hero Andy Sabin. Banbury would also like to appeal to all cricket enthusiasts. The 2nd XI requires a scorer for the season. Anyone who is interested please could they call Wayne Hazell on 07789 965064.