Sat 2nd June Charlbury 2nd vs Shipton-Under-Wychwood 3rd

Shipton-Under-Wychwood 3rd 39 (26.4 overs)

Andy Glass 4-21

Mark Fitzgerald 5-11

 

Charlbury 2nd 41-4 (12 overs)

 

On a hot day Charlbury entertained local rivals Shipton-Under-Wychwood. After heavy rain on Thursday the wicket was still a bit damp and so Shipton batted first. Matt Doran and Andy opened the bowling and got Charlbury off to a great start. First ball of the match and Matt clean bowled the opening batsman. Andy quickly settled into a great line and length and with a bit of movement off of the pitch he started to cause all sorts of problems for the batsmen. Matt was also bowling well, getting the ball to nip around a bit and using his pace to rush the batsmen. The batsmen were finding run scoring very difficult and with some excellent fielding backing the bowlers up Charlbury were in control. One batsman tried to hit out and found a couple of boundaries. Then Andy wrapped one batsman on the pads and he was given out adjudged LBW. Matt now came out of the attack and slow bowler Mark entered it. The Shipton team were a fairly young side and so Charlbury brought on Mark to try and tease them out with his variations of spin. A couple of overs passed by with not a run being scored, but them Andy grabbed the third wicket of the game when the batsman lobbed the ball back at him and he gratefully took the return catch. Mark had dropped into a great line and length and with a little bit of movement off of the pitch he was causing lots of problems for all of the batsmen. The new batsman managed to find a way thru the inner ring of fielders and the ball made its way to the boundary for four a couple of times. The new batsman then took a step down the wicket to try and hit Mark out of the park, but he missed the ball and quick as a flash wicket-keeper Abi collected the ball, whipped the bails off and stumped him. The score was hardly moving at all as Andy bowled maiden after maiden. In Mark’s next over he wrapped the new batsman on the pads and he was given out adjudged LBW, leaving Shipton 34-5. Things got even better for Charlbury in the next over as Andy grabbed another victim by clean bowling him. Charlbury were now in complete control and were just trying to bowl Shipton out as quickly as possible. Then Mark bowled a decisive over. First he had one batsman caught when he tried to hit out, skied the ball and Rob took a great catch and then next ball he clean bowled the new batsman to leave the Shipton innings in disarray. The batsmen were now just looking to see how long they could bat and were playing very defensively, only pushing the odd single around. Andy then grabbed his fourth victim of the innings when he clean bowled one batsman. The end was not long in coming as when one batsman tried to hit out at Mark the ball flew in the air straight to Charlie who took a good catch to give Mark his fifth wicket and to leave Shipton all out for 39.

 

Charlbury were going to have to bat well to get the runs as the pitch was still difficult to bat on. New batsman Tom Harris and Neil opened the batting for Charlbury. Things got off to a poor start as first ball Thom mis-hit the ball straight back to the bowler and was caught. Ben now strode to the wicket. Ben has now picked up a bat in nearly two years, but from the off he looked in good form. Ben hit a couple of early boundary fours to get the scoreboard moving along. Then disaster struck as Neil missed one and was bowled leaving Charlbury 10-2. Martin now joined Ben at the crease. The wicket was tough to bat on and both of the Shipton bowlers had dropped into a good line and length and were causing lost of problems. Ben hit another couple of boundaries as the score started to get closer and closer to the victory mark. After eight overs Shipton decided to change the bowling around. Martin hit out at one from the new bowler, but the ball flew straight to a fielder and was caught. Rob now came to the crease, but was not there long as one kept a bit low in the next over and he was bowled. Andy now joined Ben at the crease with nine runs still needed for victory. Both batsmen pushed a couple of singles around and with some hard running the game was nearly over. When Ben hammered his fifth boundary four of the innings Charlbury had reached their target and won by six wickets.

 

A great win for the seconds built on a brilliant bowling display from Andy and Mark and the Ben’s hard-hitting finished the game off – well played lads and lasses.

 

Charlbury 2nd 25 points