Sat 11th Aug Charlbury 2nd vs Buckingham 4th

Buckingham Town 4th 191-9 (45 overs)

Matt Lyver 3-25

Ellie Norton 3-38

 

Charlbury 2nd 118-2 (26.1 overs)

Ajit Shah 39 not out

Andy Glass 44 not out

 

Buckingham won the toss and elected to bat first. Matt Doran and Emilia opened the bowling for Charlbury and got them off to a good start. Emilia dropped straight into a great line and length from the off, getting the ball to move around a bit off of the pitch and cause problems for both the opening batsmen. Matt too dropped into not a bad line and length, using his extra height to extract some bounce out of the hard wicket. Then one batsman got a leading edge and the ball flew up in the air and straight back to the bowler, Emilia and she took a good catch. Charlbury were backing their bowlers up with some great fielding, diving all over the place in a desperate bid to stop the ball flying to the boundary. The opening batsman was very cautious, just looking to push the odd single around whilst playing very defensively. The new batsman was slightly more attacking and found a couple of boundaries to get the score moving along. The overs ticked by and Charlbury were doing well in keeping the score down. After fifteen over a change in the bowling was made as Matt Doran was replaced by Matt Lyver. Matt quickly dropped into a great line and length and with a bit of movement off of the pitch started to cause some problems. A couple of overs later another change in the bowling was made as Emilia left the attack after her great spell and Barry entered it. Matt then found the edge of the bat and Ajit did the rest taking a good, low catch at slip. In his next over Matt grabbed another wicket when he clean bowled the new batsman to leave Buckingham three wickets down. Barry had settled into a good length and line and managed to get the batsmen playing and missing several times. Charlbury were in control, keeping the runs down and taking wickets. A few overs later and Matt grabbed his third victim when the new batsman took a step down the wicket and swung the bat, he missed the ball and quick as a flash Abi collected the ball and stumped him. Barry now left the attack An Ellie entered it. Ellie was straight on the money from the off, using her guile to get the batsmen playing and missing constantly. The opening batsman was still there and still playing defensively. The overs were ticking by and Charlbury wanted to try and bowl Buckingham out as the weather for the end of the day was not good. Matt came out of the attack and was replaced by his namesake. The change had a quick impact as Matt Doran found a way thru one batsman’s defences and clean bowled him. Ellie was bowling really well, but with no luck. Matt then left the attack and so Mark entered it to see if he could make an impact. Impact made when in his first over he wrapped one batsman on the pads and he was given out adjudged LBW. Then Buckingham really went for it. The new batsman attacked hard, finding several boundaries and took the score up quickly. Mark left the attack and Matt Doran re-entered it. The hard hitting batsman continued to try and play his shots, but in trying to hit Ellie he skied the ball and Tom Eaton got underneath it and took a fine catch. With only a few overs left the batsmen continued to attack hard, finding a few more boundaries. Ellie then bowled a big over. First she clean bowled one batsman leaving Buckingham eight wickets down, then before the end of the over she clean bowled the new batsman and ensured she set a new record for most wickets in a season by a second team player. Buckingham batted out the last couple of overs to finish on 191-4.

 

Charlbury now needed to bat well if they were to win the game. Richard and Ajit opened the batting and got Charlbury off to a reasonable start. Ajit started off in his usual fashion, defending the good deliveries, whilst also looking for a quick single at every opportunity. Richard too started slowly, just looking to push the ball around for the odd single. Then disaster struck as Richard edged one and was caught meaning Tom had to come to the crease. Both of the Buckingham bowlers had settled into a good length and line and were making run scoring difficult in the early stages. Tom started aggressively, hitting a couple of early boundaries to get the scoreboard moving along. Tom continued to try and hit out, but when he miss-hit one he was caught leaving Charlbury 28-2. Captain, Andy, now entered the fray. Both batsmen now just played out a couple of overs as they tried to make sure no more quick wickets were lost. A change in the bowling was then made as Buckingham continued to search for wickets. Andy started slowly, just looking to push a few singles around, but defending any good delivery. Ajit played a late cut and the ball flew to the boundary over the hard ground. Another change in the bowling was made and now Charlbury began to attack a bit more. Andy attacked the new bowler, hitting a couple of fours off of his first couple of overs. Ajit began running harder for every single as Charlbury began to push hard. Light rain now began to fall, but not enough to take the players off. Both batsmen tried to attack harder, running hard for everything and finding the odd boundary. Another change was made in the bowling as Buckingham now searched desperately for the breakthrough that might get them back into the game. The rain was getting harder. Andy was now looking in top form as he stroked th ball around on both sides of the wicket, pushing Charlbury passed the hundred mark with plenty of overs to go. Finally the rain came down even harder and now the players had to leave the field. Both teams tried to keep the game on, but eventually they had to relent to the rain and the game was abandoned as a draw.

 

Charlbury 2nd 11 points