Wolvercote beat Langford and Goring to become U15 County Cup champions at Didcot on Sunday and represent Oxfordshire in the ECB U15 competition.
The first semi-final of the day saw Goring beat Banbury by 7 wickets in a low-scoring game that went down to the final over. Batting first, Banbury set 95-8 from their 20 overs, with Miller and Spokes top scoring with 18 a-piece. The pick of the excellent bowling attack by Goring was Robinson, with 2-10 from his 3 overs. Walsh and Cooke also took 2 wickets each, and set themselves up with a total of under a hundred to chase for a place in the final. Banbury started well, dismissing the dangerous Richards for 0. However, Goring re-built and despite looking to be behind the rate at points, Walsh (20) and Logan (41) saw off the lion’s share of the run chase before Offwood took them over the line with 3 balls to spare. Pick of the Banbury bowlers was Rorich who returned an excellent 1-7 from his 4 overs.
Semi-final 2 was between Langford and Wolvercote, with the latter batting first and setting 144-5 from their 20 overs. Robinson’s 51 made him the star of the show, with support acts Beard (30) and du Plessis (22*) helping their side up to a very reasonable score. Greenslade recorded the best bowling figures for Langford – 1-20 from his 4 overs. Langford set about their run-chase positively, but lost early wickets in their attempt to keep up with the required run rate. However, their innings took a turn when Hewlett had to retire hurt, after being hit in the neck with the ball. After a lengthy break where all were concerned for his well being, he seemed to show some signs of improvement and the game continued. The resumption in play saw a flurry of wickets saw them fall to 47 all out. Wolvercote’s bowlers performed well given the circumstances, with Newman the standout with 4-10 from his 4 overs.
After a short break, the final got underway, with Wolvercote batting first. Goring seemed to be repeating their bowling efforts from their earlier game, restricting the Wolvercote batters and taking key wickets. However, they rallied and Lovell (22*) and Bewes (27*) managed to get their side up to 118-6 from their 20 overs – a total that would be defendable if they bowled well. Robinson again starred with the ball, taking 2-16 from 4 overs. Goring began their chase well, with openers Richards (47) and Walsh (13) setting the tone. But losing key wickets and with Wolvercote capitalising, they fell short by 16 runs, ending all out for 102. Newman again stood out with the ball (3-14), but Gibbons returned the best figures of 3-12 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.
All of us at Oxfordshire Cricket wish Tommy Hewlett a speedy recovery and hope he is back playing with his Langford teammates soon.
Congratulations again to Wolvercote who now progress onto the national round of this competition and represent Oxfordshire as county winners.