Timing their runs to perfection?
Over 60s 2nd and 3rd XIs hit form at the ‘business end’ of the season
Andy Haynes’ Over 60s 2nd XI put down a marker with the other teams in their second round phase of the Over 60s 2nd XI County Championship, when they comfortably beat a strong Surrey side by 78 runs at the Banbury XX Club.
And not to be outdone the 3rds brushed aside a similarly strong Gloucestershire side by chasing down 206 for the loss of just one wicket.
Sadly there was no good news from the 1st XI in their ‘must win’ game against Kent at Challow and Childrey CC, where they went down by five wickets, and now have the proverbial mountain to climb to qualify for the knock out stages, in the shape of four straight wins with potentially other results also having to go in their favour.
At Banbury XX skipper Haynes won the toss and on a hot day and on wicket which is usually full of runs he was in doubt it was a bat first day. And so it proved to be.
Haynes and Ivan Mulford soon had the scoreboard ticking over nicely, before the skipper was bowled by Bob Airey having made 26 out of the 30 on the board when the wicket fell.
Mike Howatt was soon into his stride as Mulford rotated the strike and the pair added 41 before Howatt went to cut Mohammad Dilshad and was well taken standing up by Keith Tushingham for 19.
That brought Tim Riley to the wicket and he was very quickly into his work and was soon going at a run a ball, many of them rapid singles that got the visitors fielding under pressure. Meanwhile Mulford was now also finding his range with better shots including two huge sixes over long off.
The pair had put Oxon in very much in control at 104-3 when Mulford was bowled by the impressive Nigel Pearce for 41, who then shortly afterwards found the outside edge of Dave Warner’s bat, who was again well taken by Tushingham. The game was back in the balance.
Keeper Phil Manning then joined the Riley and the pairs running between the wickets again soon had Surrey under pressure as they struggled defend the deeper pockets on a big paddock.
83 runs were added in quick time as the boundaries started to flow including a crisp reverse sweep from Riley just after he passed his 50. Manning – still recovering from a hamstring injury – eventually departed run out attempting another audacious second run with the score on 189-4.
Graham Nelson kept up the pace as Riley pressed on before he departed at 226 for 5 for a wonderfully fluent 72, bowled by Prakash Ganatra, shortly after which the innings closed at 241 for 7.
For the visitors Nigel Pearce’s 3-42 from nine overs was the pick of the bowling, well supported by two sharp takes from keeper Keith Tushingham.
In reply the visitors looked to be settling in for a long steady chase with no real fireworks to begin with. Clive Offer and Don Taylor put the bad balls away with ease and got off to a decent start posting 39 for the first wicket in good time before Taylor edged Anwar Pervaiz to Phil Manning for 22.
And it was the impressive Pervaiz who struck again when Clive Offer failed to keep down an attempted glide to third man and was well taken in the gulley by Steve Kelly for 14 with the score on 44. Advantage Oxon.
However, new batsmen Andrew Monk and Keith Tushingham stopped the rot and began the rebuild but it took time and overs ticked by and unlike the hosts they did not put the field under pressure with hard run singles. And when Perviaz nipped in with his third wicket trapping Tushingham lbw with another well pitched up ball for 15 with the score at 65-3, the run rate was already climbing.
Robin Pykett’s left arm spin was already proving to be very difficult to get away when he removed Monk bowled for 16, which then brought together the visitor’s skipper Ian Walters and Nick Bradwell, with the score on 84-4
Again the pair soon looked comfortable and began to up the rate as the game began to enter its deciding phase. Oxon needed to break their partnership while one of them needed to bat through for Surrey.
Walters looked powerful as he picked off runs on the offside, while Bradwell dealt in singles in support. The pair added 60 in setting a platform that might have won them the game until Steve Kelly prised open the hutch door by bowling Walters for 31 when he went back to cut once too often with the scorer on 144-5.
Bradwell and Prakash Ganatra then added 19 to bring the total up to 163 with the required rate approaching 10 an over, when Kelly struck again and Bradwell was adjudged lbw for a battling 41.
What then followed was extraordinary. The remaining four wickets then fell without further addition to the score in the space of two overs. Kelly bowled Richard Tuttle for 0 in the same over. After which Graham Nelson went one better and removed Ganatra for 7 and Bob Airey and Nigel Pearce for both for 0. Surrey went from 163 for 5 to 163 all out within the space of twelve deliveries.
Anwar Parvaiz set the standard for the Oxon bowlers with his hard work with the new ball when taking 3-39 from nine, while Steve Kelly 3-19 from five and Graham Nelson 3-15 from four turned in the best figures.
“That was our best performance of the season by some distance,” said skipper Andy Haynes. “Against a very good side who qualified top in a tough group – everyone contributed something. “We were equally good with bat and ball in hand, and in the field. I couldn’t be more pleased. We now need to take this form forward with us into the next three matches in the second phase,” he added. Next week the 2nds make the very long journey to Colne CC, near Burnley, to take on Lancashire.
The Over 60s 3rd XI were also in similarly impressive form as they completed their group matches against Gloucestershire at Cirencester CC, with a nine wicket win.
The hosts won the toss and elected to bat but got off to something of a shaky start thanks to the bowling of Andy Slater who sent back Martin Hopkins for four caught by Chris Butcher, shortly followed by David Griffiths for 10 – this time bowled by Ajit Shah.
The new pairing of Alan Thomas and keeper Alec Robinson did a good job of rescuing the situation for Gloucs with Thomas making 32 before he was again bowled by Shah, while Robinson went for 20 bowled by leg spinner Tom Scrase.
When new batsman Ian Martin was trapped lbw by Mike Simpson the hosts were five wickets down and desperately in need of a big partnership to post a defendable score on what looked to be a good batting track.
And the new pairing of Peter Adams (44) and Mark Moodie (68) did not disappoint as they patiently compiled a potentially match winning stand of well over a hundred and enabled Gloucs to post a respectable total of 205 for 5 from their 40 overs.
Among the Oxon bowlers who toiled manfully in the hot sun on a flat track Ajit Shah’s were the stand out figures, with 2-24 from eight overs, while Mike Simpson was his usual miserly self with ball in hand with figures of 1-21 from eight.
There were no alarms for Oxon as they began their chase of 206 in the hands of regular opening pair Howard Lancaster and Ajit Shah. As usual the two ran their singles hard and put the hosts fielding under pressure while also picking off the bad balls for boundaries.
So it was something of a surprise when the usually adhesive Lancaster was bowled for 20 by Alan Thomas. That however, was to be the only wicket that would fall for the remainer of the game.
New batsman Simon Oldfield was soon into his work with the ever-busy Shah rotating the strike and keeping the scoreboard rolling along as the hosts bowlers began to wilt in the heat while faced with the ease with which Oxon were knocking off the runs.
The pair remained unbeaten with the stand for the second wicket passing 150 in the process as Shah racked up 74 unbeaten and Oldfield 73 not out as the visitors – assisted by a very generous 37 extras – ran out winners by nine wickets, despite home captain Bill Church frequently ringing the changes with his bowlers and using no fewer than eight to make the vital breakthrough that never came.
So now the group matches are over the Over 60s thirds have booked their place in the 3rd XI County Championship play offs – finishing in fourth place out of the eight qualifiers. They now await the quarter final draw to discover who their next opponents will be.
And looking at the bigger picture all three Over 60s sides have now qualified from their regional groups to contest the latter stages of their respective County Championship competitions. Not bad for one of the smaller counties!
At Challow 1st XI skipper Phil Manger won the toss and elected to bat. However, it was the visitors who drew first blood when Nick Morman was bowled by a superb delivery from Rupert Staple which pitched middle and hit the top of off stump.
Charlie Anderson then joined skipper Manger and both looked comfortable as they negotiated Kent’s initial onslaught and added 59 for the second wicket in 11 overs before Manger was bowled by David Walton for a well-made 42.
Anderson and Paul Hemming have enjoyed a number of good partnerships in the middle order this season but today was not to be another. Hemming was caught by keeper Graham Nicholls off David Walton for 1 and next batsman Nick Edmondson soon went for 5 – again caught behind this time off the bowling of Chris Trevatt. Kent were well in control at 77-4 off 19 overs.
The fifth wicket pairing of Mickey Thomas and Anderson then added 40 for the next wicket before Thomas (20) again went to the glovework of Nicholls off the bowling of Steve Bradford.
Anderson battled on, now with Rupert Taylor, and the pair added 44 before he was next to succumb run out just four short of a fighting fifty, and shortly afterwards Taylor also went – for hard hit 29 and it was that man Nicholls again doing the damage, this time with a stumping off the bowling of John Butterworth.
Steve Roberts – supported by keeper Neil Megson thenadded 30 for the eighth wicket with a run a ball 21, before the innings closed on 205 all out.
Kent skipper Nicholls used no fewer than seven bowlers and all bar one took wickets and none went the distance on a good wicket. However star of the show in the field was Nicholls himself, with three catches and a stumping, which removed the heart of the Oxon middle order for a shade over 50 runs.
In reply the visitors were always in control. Openers John Butterworth and Jim Phillips posted 59 for the first wicket in 16 overs, after which Phillips succumbed to the nagging accuracy of Steve Roberts and 20 runs later Butterworth was caught by sub Adrian Manger off the bowling of Jon Woods.
There was hope of an Oxon breakthrough when Russel Shipton went cheaply to yet more good glovework this time by Neil Megson, for just seven off the bowling of Jon Woods, and not long after Mike Rees was trapped in front by Mickey Thomas, with the score on 101-4
However, skipper Nicholls steadied the ship with a counter attacking 31 off 24 balls while Chris Trevatt settled in at the other end. Nicholls went in the 29th over with 73 still needed and five wickets left, but the result was never in doubt.
Trevatt and new man in David Walton batted with some ease and never looked in any trouble in taking the visitors to their target with four overs to spare and five wickets in hand. Trevatt made 37 off 43 balls and Walton 36 off 39 with six fours.
After the game a disappointed Oxon skipper Phil Manger said: “I think we all knew we were at least 30 runs short of par and would have to bowl and field really well to get a side as good as Kent under any real pressure and while we had chances to do that we were unable to exploit them.
“If we could have broken that sixth wicket stand early we might have got back into the game, but both of them batted really well and never looked in any trouble.
“We’ve been much improved this season in winning our regional group and making it into the business end of the Over 60s County Championship, after making it through to the Vase Final last year.
“But a dip in form after an enforced lay off has highlighted the step up in class we are now tackling, which was all too evident in the way that Kent eased to victory when five wickets down in this game, he added.
Next week the 1st XI are again at home – this time to Sussex at Tiddington CC.