Peppard Stoke Row saw off competition from Oxford and Oxford Downs to become U15s League champions at Didcot on Sunday, beating Oxford in the semi-final and Downs in the final for the trophy.
The first semi-final of the day saw Oxford Downs beat Banbury by just 8 runs to secure their spot in the final. Batting first, Downs put on 125-6 from their 20 overs, with Sutton’s 51 from 41 balls the pick of the batters – Kumar’s 34 helped his team reach a defendable target. Holmes took the lion’s share of the wickets, finishing with figures of 3-15 from his allotted overs. Banbury lost early wickets, falling to 14-2 and never recovered – with Miller top scoring with 30 it couldn’t prevent defeat and fall 8 runs short of their target.
Semi-final 2 was between Peppard and Oxford, with the former batting first. Losing early wickets, Peppard fell to 19-2 and Oxford looking to capitalise. However, Day and Derbyshire steadied the ship, scoring 51 and 35 respectively to get their team back in the game, Cameos from Waller as Hucker saw them reach 162-5 from their 20 overs. Oxford got their run chase underway, needing to score big if they were going to reach the final. Again early wickets seemed to be their downfall, collapsing to 9-3. A combination of good bowling and attempting to now assail this impossible target saw Oxford lose more wickets, finishing their 20 overs on 70-6. Pick of the Peppard bowlers was Mennie, with figures of 2-7 from 3 overs helping his side to a 92 run victory.
After a short break, the final got underway, with Peppard batting first. Peppard started strongly with an opening stand of close to 100 – Robinson retired with 51 and Hector out for 41 put their team in good stead to set a large target for Downs to chase. Useful runs from Hucker who fell 4 short of his own half century saw Peppard reach 184-7 from their 20 overs. Oxford Downs began their chase poorly, losing Sutton in the first over. Niyarepola scored a useful 40 to steady the ship and provide the platform his side needed to win. However, none of his team mates could muster a score, and Downs fell 63 runs short. Hector helped his side over the the with figures of 2-7 from his 4 overs.
The presentation of the trophy and medals was conducted by Joe Clapton (Finals Day Manager for the day) who thanked Didcot for hosting, the umpires, coaches, scorers and all the teams for a great day of cricket. Thank you to all clubs who competed in this year’s Competition, and we look forward to seeing more great cricket over the summer.
Congratulations again to Peppard who now progress onto the national round of this competition and represent Oxfordshire as group winners.