Sat 18th May Charlbury 2nd vs East Oxford 2nd

East Oxford 2nd 332-6 (45 overs)

Andy Glass 3-81

 

Charlbury 2nd 181-7 (45 overs)

Simon Smith 30

 

Charlbury won the toss and elected to field first. Ellie and Alex opened the bowling and got Charlbury off to a reasonable start. Ellie quickly dropped into a great line and length, causing the batsmen problems and making run scoring difficult. Alex too dropped into a great line and length, pressuring the batsmen with his accuracy. A couple of overs later Alex grabbed the first wicket when he clean bowled the captain. The two batsmen now just played a few overs out just to try and get their eye in and make sure no more wickets fell. After ten overs Alex came out of the attack and Nathan entered it. Now the batsmen decided to hit to try and make sure that the new bowler did not have time to settle. Both batsmen played some powerful shots and managed to find a few boundaries as the score started to accelerate. Nathan was quickly pulled from the attack and Abi Flory entered it. Ellie was still bowling well and managing to keep the runs down, but was still hit for a few runs. The new batsman attacked hard hitting several deliveries to the boundary. The score was mounting much quicker than Charlbury wanted, but there seemed little they could do to stem the flow of runs. After twenty overs Ellie finished her great spell of bowling and Andy entered the attack. The batsmen were in full swing now and attacked Andy from the off, but this backfired as Andy clean bowled the number three batsman and Charlbury were back in the game. The opening batsman was still there stroking the ball all around the wicket and Charlbury would need him out if they were to win the game. The new batsman started where the previous one left off by attacking hard. The score was racing along now and no matter what Charlbury tried it did not seem to work. Charlbury were fielding well, making several diving stops. Abi left the attack and Alex re-entered it as Charlbury tried to gain some sort of foothold in the game. Alex again dropped into a good line and length, but with the batsmen already set the runs came quicker than they had earlier off of him. The overs were now beginning to run out and this just made the batsmen go harder at the bowling. Alex his allotted ten over spell and so Abi re-entered the attack. Then Charlbury got a bonus as the opening batsman hit one delivery from Andy in the air and Ellie gratefully took a good catch. The 250 mark had been passed and the runs were still coming too quickly. In his last over Andy grabbed a third wicket when he wrapped the number four batsman on the pads and he was given out adjudged LBW. Charlbury now had two newish batsmen to bowl at as Nathan re-entered the attack in place of Andy. The 300 mark was reached, but just afterwards Nathan grabbed a wicket when one batsman skied the ball and Simon took a great catch. Going into the last couple of the batsmen just threw the bat at everything and ran hard. In the last over Abi grabbed her first wicket when one batsman edged the ball and wicket-keeper Adam took the catch. East Oxford eventually finished on a huge 332-5.

 

Charlbury would have to bat well if they were to come even close to their target. Mark and Simon opened the batting. The East Oxford bowlers quickly settled into a great line and length and Charlbury found run scoring much more difficult than in the first innings. Simon started off slowly, but managed to find a few early singles. Mark too started slowly, but found an early four. Then disaster struck as Mark missed one and was bowled. Martyn now entered the fray, but was not there too long as he too was bowled. The captain, Andy, now joined Simon at the wicket. Both batsmen now tried to use up a few overs so that Charlbury did not lose any more quick wickets. A change in the bowling was then made as a new bowler entered the attack. The new bowler bowled a good length, but was slightly wayward in his line and started to bowl the odd wide which helped to increase the score. Charlbury were still scoring slowly and would need to push on hard if they were to win the game. Simon was batting well, keeping out the many good deliveries, whilst pushing a few singles and twos around. Andy was wrapped on the pads by the new bowler and given out adjudged LBW to leave Charlbury four wickets down. Jon Flory now entered the fray. Another change in the bowling was now made as the opening bowler left the attack and a new one entered it. The new bowler was looser than the previous ones and started to bowl a few wides which helped the Charlbury score along. Both batsmen drilled deliveries thru the off side and for four to keep things moving. Then disaster struck. Just as it looked like Charlbury had seen off the bowlers Simon edged one and was caught for a good 30. Rob now entered the fray and started in a fairly defensive way. Both batsmen were trying to see the bowlers off and then see what else East Oxford had to offer. Jon hit out at one delivery and was caught leaving Charlbury five wickets down. Alex now came to the crease and was quickly off the mark with a single. Soon afterwards Rob missed one and was bowled meaning Nathan had to come to the crease. The overs were by now staring to run out and a change in the bowling was made as one of the opening bowlers returned to the attack. Charlbury were by now too far behind the rate to win the game and now it was about pride in their performance. Both youngsters batted sensibly, pushing a few quick singles around to keep the scoreboard moving. Alex was looking good as he stroked the ball around on both sides of the wicket. Nathan too was looking comfortable at the crease, pushing the ball around for runs, but also looking solid in defence. The game seemed to be ebbing to a close, but then Alex missed one and was bowled meaning Abi had to come to the wicket for the last few overs. East Oxford now began changing their bowling around as they search for the last few wickets, this played into Charlbury’s hands as both players stroked the ball, around and ran hard for every run. Abi got some revenge for being hit around when she smashed two deliveries to the boundary for four. Nathan also got some revenge as he pushed the ball around and also found the boundary. Eventually Charlbury finished on a creditable 181-7.

 

Charlbury 2nd 8 points