Match report – Oxfordshire 50+ XI vs. Staffordshire 50+ XI

Oxfordshire won the toss and elected to bat. Some early tight bowling from the visitors restricted the run scoring during the first half of the innings where scoring generally throughout the innings was difficult on a wicket where the ball was not coming on. A respectable total of 165-7 was posted off the 45 overs with captain Mark Robey top scoring with 42 n/o and Pablo Mukerjee next best with 34.
Staffordshire were aggressive at the start of their reply racking up 63 for no wicket after 12 overs but then debutant Simon Smith took 2 wickets in 2 balls. A further 2 more wickets and some tight bowling restricted the visitors to 85/4 at half way drinks. Staffordshire then staged a recovery adding 60 runs for the 5th wicket and with the score at 144/4 after 34 overs it looked a foregone conclusion for a Staffordshire win. Oxfordshire’s heads never dropped and some excellent bowling saw the visitors then lose 5 wickets for just 15 runs but with 7 balls to spare the hosts pierced the in field with a boundary to seal the win. Notable bowling efforts for Oxfordshire were Mark Robey with 3 for 22 off 8 overs and 2 wickets each for Simon Smith, Sean Miller and Colin Allen.