Banbury Match Report

Week four saw us taking the long road to Banbury on a damp morning. With light rain in the air, the toss was delayed as was the match start time. A very critical toss at that due to the nature of the pitch.

Having won the toss, Banbury’s captain Lloyd Sabin had no hesitation in asking us to bat first. The first delivery of the inning did not go without dammar. A perfect On Drive by AJ Woodland should have resulted in an easy ran three but as his opening partner Liam Gough attempted to turn for a third, he ending on his rear-end. With both batsman at the same end, Banbury completed a run out and we were 2-1 off the opening delivery.

Andy Dixon promoted to number three in the absence of Charlie Macdonell joined Gough for a stand of 19 before the latter was caught behind for eight in the ninth over. Michael Payne was next to the crease on what was now evidently a challenging wicket to bat on. After a stand of 13, Payne too was out caught behind for seven as we were reduced to 37-3 in the 13th over with captain Shelvin Gumbs now at the wicket. Dixon followed Payne back to the pavilion in the very next over which brought young debutant Sheridon Gumbs to the crease to join his older brother. The partnership did not last long as the captain Shelvin was also out in the 14th over caught behind.

The younger Gumbs, now the senior partner was joined by Andy Harris but four overs later Harris too was caught behind without troubling the scorers and we fell to 42-6 in the 18th over. Not the setting that a 14-year-old was be expecting but when Mo Choudhry joined him, the pair batted together for 13 overs keeping out the Banbury bowlers but scoring remain a real challenge. Their partnership of 26 was by far the highest of the innings before Gumbs was caught at mid-off for 11 after battling for over an hour.

With the wicket still proving a challenge, our tail fought gallantly and we were eventually all out for 84 inside 41 overs, it was now Banbury’s turn to bat and chasing 85 for victory in 50 overs it was theirs to lose.

Although our seam attack bowled well, Banbury’s open pair of Sabin and the experienced Haupt dug in knowing survival of the early onslaught would see them home. Woodland in particular bowled extremely well and when a very positive appeal was turned down for an excellent diving catch by Steve Dutch it was only a matter of time before the end. Banbury lost three wickets in the chase, one each to Rory Criddle, Woodland and for captain Gumbs.

We now sit fifth in the league, 18 points behind leaders High Wycombe. We return home next weekend to take on Thame Town who are at the bottom of the league following their defeat by Slough last Saturday.