CRICKET: Thame trounce Banbury 2nd to issue early title warning

Having bowled out Oxford 2nd for only 89 on the opening day, Town did even better in their second match as only Will Hawtin (10) of the home batsmen made it to double figures.

Sam Lachlan took 4-17 from 12 overs and Hassam Mushtaq picked up 3-17 from 11, while extras easily top-scored with 22.

Will Sutcliffe then hit 31 in Thame’s 63-3.

Banbury 2nd 3pts, Thame Town 25

Sam Hollingshead took 5-36 in a devastating burst that set joint leaders Tiddington on the way to an impressive win at newly-promoted Long Marston.

The hosts had made a steady start to reach 77-1 before Hollingshead took the next five wickets to fall and leave them reeling on 119-6.

Marston’s final score of 153 all out was then dismantled by Tiddington opener Tom Rowley, who smashed an unbeaten 101 from 91 balls as the visitors raced to 154-2 in the 34th over.

Long Marston 4, Tiddington 25

Cumnor were to regret asking Great Brickhill to bat first as their hosts amassed 273-7 through Anton de Beer (82) and Mark Nelson (50).

Harry Ackland (3-67) was the pick of the visiting attack, and then top-scored with 79. But only Joe Dale (41) proffered much support and Cumnor fell away to 205 all out.

Great Brickhill 25, Cumnor 7 A good batting performance propelled Oxford 2nd to 240-6 at home to Twyford.

Alex Morgan (59), Adam Hall (33) and Sulaiman Hussain (33) starred, while Jason Heslington (4-73) shone with the ball.

But other than Jack Deal (78) his teammates struggled with the bat and they closed on 175-7.

Oxford 2nd 15, Twyford 8

A low-scoring thriller at Wolverton Town saw visitors Leighton Buzzard Town squeeze home by one wicket.

Wolverton chose to bat, but could muster only 118, as Jack Kempster (4-17) and Lee Selfe (3- 19) starred.

Zaheer Khan (4-34) and Idrees Butt (4-37) shone with the ball, but helped by Dave Roberts (54) and Phil Whatmore (30), Buzzard’s final pair saw them to 119-9.

Wolverton Town 10, L Buzzard Tn 25

Division 2

A DRAMATIC final-over victory over Oxford Downs helped Horspath 2nd maintain their winning start.

Downs scored steadily in reaching 210-8, with James France (40), Tom Ward (39no) and Amin Rafiq (38) to the fore. Tomas Francis King finished with 4-67.

Horspath then timed the run chase to perfection as Dominic O’Connor hit 54 and Mark Skelton 51 in their 211-5.

Horspath 2nd 25, Oxford Downs 9

Wes Morrick set up Aston Rowant 2nd’s 44-run win at Abingdon Vale.

First Morrick hit 62 in the visitors’ 202-8, which also featured useful contributions from Dominic Whatman (41no) and Alex Jewell (36).

Paul White took 4-43 for Vale, who were blown away for 158 by Morrick (5-30) as Rowant made it two from two despite Jason Cardy’s 42.

Abingdon Vale 5, Aston Rowant 2nd 25

Great & Little Tew 2nd join Horspath 2nd and Rowant at the top, courtesy of victory at Challow & Childrey.

Lawrence Brock (3-22) reduced Challow to 25-3, before the hosts fought back through Tom Linnane (42) and Luke Jones (34).

Kevin Taylor took 3-26 as Challow fell to 154 all out.

Markus Jeacock (49) and Lloyd Brock (40) helped Tew to 155-6 in the 44th over despite Conor Jones’ 4-36.

Challow & Chil 8, Gt & Little Tew 2nd 25

Oxford & Bletchingdon Nondescripts needed three to win off the final ball and Mark Strong duly smashed a boundary for a three-wicket win over Sandford St Martin.

Jim Howe hit 40 as Sandford set 147-8, Strong taking 3-21.

Atif Ali (54) kept Nondies in the game and they eventually made 148-7 in dramatic fashion.

Ox & Bletch Nondies 25, Sandford SM 10 Matt Bolton took 7-23 in 10.5 overs as Bledlow Village blew Didcot away for 142.

Aiden Kammel (59) looked like setting up the home side for a decent total before Bolton entered the fray.

Ian Demain took 3-42 for Didcot, but Ryan Chapman (50no) saw Bledlow home.

Didcot 8, Bledlow Village 25

Division 3

James Barrett played a match-winning innings of 79 to help Blewbury & Wallingford overcome hosts Bicester & North Oxford by three wickets to collect their first win of the season.

In a low-scoring game where the next highest innings was 26, the No 4 batsman’s knock was crucial.

Barrett hit 12 fours and two sixes before being dismissed with his side nine runs short of victory.

Although Bicester had a glimmer of hope about a dramatic finish, the visitors squeezed home for the loss of one more wicket.

Put in to bat, Bicester made a decent start through father and son opening pair Nick and Joe Moorman.

They put on 40 for the first wicket and even after both fell in quick succession, they seemed well placed on 71-2.

But Richard Simpson was caught off Campbell Garland, before Tom Gould removed Phillip Warson and Ryan Moore to quickly reduce Bicester to 79-5.

Only Kevin Hicks (24) provided resistance as spinner Warren Ainsworth took 4-29 to clean up the tail.

The hosts’ final score of 140 all out looked well below par, even when Blewbury were reduced to 5-2 as Daniel Savin struck twice.

Barrett soon steadied the ship, adding 46 with Harry Warman and 40 with Mark Carey to break the back of the run chase.

While Barrett could not quite finish the job himself, caught by Warson off Moore’s bowling, victory was quickly secured with six overs to spare.

It marked a comeback for Blewbury & Wallingford, runners-up in Division 4 last term, who were dismissed for 73 against Cropredy on the opening day of the season.

For Bicester, who hung on for a draw in their first game of the summer against Horley, it looks like they have some work to do if they are to avoid the relegation dogfight.

Bicester & North Oxford 9pts, Blewbury & Wallingford 25

Joe Fox hit his maiden league ton as Cropredy crushed Oxford Downs 2nd by a mammoth 155 runs to keep up their winning start to the season.

Fox (106) scored more than the entire visiting team, who cobbled together only 98 between them.

Ed Somerton added 62 for the home side, who declared on 253-8 from 51 overs.

Downs scored painfully slowly, but were finally all out in the 47th over of their reply.

Cropredy 25pts, Oxford Downs 2nd 3

Cublington also have a 100 per cent record – but only after they were pushed all the way by Shipton-under-Wychwood 2nd.

Russell Hayes hit 60 in Shipton’s 183, in which Ollie Fairhurst (3-36) and Andy Lane (3-45) bowled well.

Opener Sam George (60) helped the visitors reach 104-2, but they only made it to 186-8 thanks to Pip Webb (64no) as Paul Hemming (3-51) nearly spun his side to victory.

Shipton-under-Wychwood 2nd 11, Cublington 25

Adnan Ahmed (76) gave Banbury 3rd a good start at home to Buckingham Town 2nd.

Impetus was added by Neil Megson (54) and Imran Mohammed (50), who mullered nine sixes between them to take the hosts to 254-8.

Town showed no interest in the chase, closing on 154-8.

Banbury 3rd 19, Buckingham Town 2nd 5

Jon Hart took 5-30 and top-scored with 39 not out for Horley, but still finished on the losing side at Dinton 2nd.

The hosts’ all rounder, Nheem Amin, had an even better day, hitting 65 in his side’s 158 all out, and then taking 4-34 as Horley collapsed to 102 all out.

Dinton 2nd 25, Horley 6

Division 4

John Mackie hit 15 fours and five sixes in a magnificent innings of 137 for Tiddington 2nd at home to Bletchley Town in Division 4.

The hosts declared on 290-4 from 48 overs, and then promptly dismissed Town for 152.

Ben Talbot (49) put a fight, but Ben Smith took 4-19 and Leon Desai 3-6.

Tiddington 2nd 25pts, Bletchley Town 3

Kingston Bagpuize continued their disastrous start with a humiliating defeat at Kimble.

Sam Agace took 7-23 as the Baggies went from 39-2 to 56 all out. The final four wickets fell without a single run being added.

Earlier Kimble had posted 241-6 thanks in part to Steven Richards (78) as only Arthur Verdin (3-52) applied the brakes to the scoring.

Kimble 25, Kingston Bagpuize 2

Witney Mills only managed 128 before being bowled out at Brackley – but it was more than twice what they needed as their hosts crashed to 63 all out.

Pierre Lefort (4-5) and Dan Swindells (4-14) did the damage for Mills, while Ken Cartwright (3-19) had earlier produced the best figures for Brackley.

Brackley 5, Witney Mills 25

Greg MacDonald (59no), Arran Aris (59), Richard Winchester (53), Patrick Prasad (51) and Barry Webb (43) were all in the runs as Great Brickhill 2nd helped themselves to 311-5 at Stokenchurch.

James Aldridge then took 5-36 as the hosts succumbed for 148.

Stokenchurch 4, Great Brickhill 2nd 25

First Kirk Brazier (45), then Scott Clark (50no) took Leighton Buzzard Town 2nd to 201-9 at home to Chearsley. Ed Holland bagged 4-50.

The visitors then limped to 136-8.

Leighton Buzzard Tn 2nd 18, Chearsley 6

Division 5

Tom Allen batted for all 53 overs of Abingdon Vale 2nd’s innings at Aston Rowant 3rd to finish on 76 not out in his side’s 194-8. Tim Chilvers added 46.

The diminutive opener’s resistance proved invaluable as Paul Butcher (5-26) and Luke Mitchell (4-32) combined to dismiss Rowant for 172.

Paul Plumridge (91) just missed out on his ton.

Aston Rowant 3rd 6pts, Abingdon Vale 2nd 25

Ali Shah hit 106 and Urfan Ahmed added 55 for East Oxford, who declared after 47 overs at Cumnor 2nd on 252-6.

Shah then took 3-1, and with Siphe Mzayidume (3-19) and Richard Burton (3-21), dismissed Cumnor for 136.

East Oxford 25, Cumnor 2nd 4

Stuart Berry (4-30) and Chris Fox (4-45) both bowled well for Horspath 3rd, but could not stop Long Marston 2nd reaching 223-9.

Matthew Wareham hit 61 and Mike Lyons and Adam Wells made 41 apiece.

The home side never got going against Simon McLeman (3-13) and Philip Jackson (3-9) and were all out for 80.

Horspath 3rd 4, L Marston 2nd 25

Miles Picknett ran out of partners to be 72 not out when Oxford 3rd were bowled out for 211 at Thame Town 2nd.

Adam Phippen took 4-35 and then hit 77 not out after tea, but received little in the way of support as Thame clung on for a draw on 146-9.

Thame Town 2nd 7, Oxford 3rd 19

Twyford 2nd beat Bledlow Ridge as 560 runs were scored for the loss of eight wickets.

Ridge were in the box seat after posting 279-3 through Simon Martin (67no), Geoff Toombs (64no), John Rolfe (58) and Simon Lloyd (46).

But Twyford fought back to reach 281-5 with two overs to spare thanks to Ben Curlew (78), Sam Lyon (77) and Nathan Perna (43no).

Twyford 2nd 25, Bledlow Ridge 10

Divisions 6-9

ASELA Jayasundara struck a magnificent 135 as Great & Little Tew 3rd hammered Horley 2nd by 150 runs in Division 6.

Aluptageen Maqbool (108) also reached three figures as the visitors racked up 301-5 dec.

Horley never threatened in the run chase and Simon Priscott took 4-36 as they were dismissed for 151.

Sean Winton returned figures of 6-22 to help Didcot 2nd win by four wickets at Bledlow Village 2nd.

He swept through the middle order and tail to give Didcot a victory target of 151, which they reached in the 52nd over for the loss of six wickets.

Trevor Spindler also took half a dozen scalps (6-32), but it was not quite enough to give Horspath 4th victory at Abingdon Vale 3rd in Division 7.

His haul saw the hosts restricted to 169-9 from their 45 overs, but in reply Horspath had to settle for a draw, ending on 159-9 as Andrew Price took 4-49.

Neil Ireson (7-56) set up Witney Mills 2nd for a five-wicket home win over Didcot 3rd in Division 8.

His figures helped dismiss the visitors for 130, which Mills knocked off in 35 overs as James Harrison made an unbeaten 39 and Ross Morgan contributed 32.