Match report - Bramhall (away) 21 June

© Bramhall Cricket Club

Well, it's June 21 and the summer soltice. And the sun wasn't the only one up early, as the poor dads (and some mums too) had to drag themselves out of bed early on Fathers' Day in order to traverse the breadth of the county and get their offspring to Bramhall by 9am. But I'm sure the lavish gifts and cards received later more than made up for it. Or am I?

Anyway, onto the cricket. Captain Jack B calls correctly and opts to have a knock. Opening the batting, Jack and Tom G look quite imperious, using the pace of the ball, playing some beautiful cuts and pulls and running very well between the wickets. A pleasure to watch. Jack retires on 31 by the 12th over. Poor Chris B replaces him but spoons one to square leg first ball. Unlucky Chris! Raghuram, on the other had, sends his first ball straight over the boundary rope for a dismissive six. However, a few balls later, he waltzes down the track to have a swipe at Madeira's spin, but misses the ball and the keeper uproots the woodwork. Harry D plays cautiously to a couple before flicking a catch back to the bowler - again Mr Madeira. Meanwhile, at the other end, Tom G has been quietly accumulating runs but eventually drives uppishly to mid off and heads back to the hutch with 26 against his name. Ed (15 runs) and Ben T (17) make useful contributions, but the run rate slows for the final few overs, with Oxton finishing on 124 for 7 off their alotted 24 overs.

In reply, Bramhall start slowly against some good bowling by Dhruv and Harry. Indeed Harry opens with a spectacular spell of 3o-2m-1r-2w and after 8 overs, Bramhall have only 17 on the board. However, they soon step up several gears and some attacking strokeplay by Madeira (yes, him again!) mean that they catch up with the Oxton position in the middle overs. Oxton do however manage to keep the wickets tumbling and this proves to be vital as the game reaches its climax. Another great over from Harry sees another two wickets fall and Bramhall are left in a very awkward situation when they realise Greenwood is closing in on the retirement score of 30 with the number 11 at the other end. With overs to spare, the only option is for Greenwood to avoid scoring and allow his partner the strike. As it turns out, he hits one a smidge too hard and it rolls over the boundary rope, forcing his retirement on 31 and thereby ending the innings on 120/8. A very odd finale to what had been a very engrossing game of cricket, but Oxton take the win and stay second place in the table.

Result
Oxton 124/7 from 24 overs
Bramhall 120/8 from 21.5 overs
Oxton win by 4 runs

Full scorecard at http://oxton.play-cricket.com/website/results/2581026

Scorer's unofficial MOTM

Harry D for his fantastic bowling figures of 2o-2m-3r-4w.

Match report - Toft (home) 7 June

Unfortunately the regular commentary team went AWOL for this fixture.

However, we can report that Oxton batted first and made 120/5 with Ed T retiring on 30, Chris B scoring 24 and Raghuram 20. Extras, at 22, were the other high scorers.

In response, Toft managed a total of 107/9. The Oxton fielding was clearly much sharper than in the Chester match, as the managed no less than 4 run outs.

Click here for the full scorecard on the Play Cricket site.

End of phase 1 league table

Under 13 Zone 1 2015: Table

Warrington game rained off

Sadly, yet again we lose a match to the weather, meaning that we've still only managed 2 games this season.

The silver lining to this particular cloud is that we take 2 points and finish 3rd in the stage 1 table on 14 points, behind Warrington and Chester Boughton Hall.

The schedule for the second part of the season is now being worked out and we'll post it as soon as it becomes available.

In the meantime, let's cross our fingers for an improvement in the weather.

Northwich concede game

Northwich have unfortunately been unable to raise a team for next week and have therefore conceded the 5 points to Oxton. Shame the lads didn't get a game, but points in the bag, which for now at least puts us at the top of the table.

U13s Results and Fixtures on Club's Play-Cricket Site

From this year, we will be posting the full rusults and scorecards on Oxton's Play Cricket Site.

Please filter the Fixtures and Results sections as follows:

• Against "Quick Search" select 2015 season
• Against "Team" select Under 13

  I will continue to post short match reports on this site.

Match report - Chester Boughton Hall (away) 10 May

Conditions - bright start, becoming cooler, moisture after recent showers

So the first road trip of the season brings us down to Chester Boughton Hall. Chester win the toss and elect to bat.

The Oxton bowling was good throughout, but some sloppy fielding let the top order batsmen off the hook several times and leeked many times more runs. Let's hope they don't come back to bite later! Even so, after a good opening stand, Chester wickets started to tumble at a healthy rate, with a fine run out by Will L and a quite stunning one-handed c&b by Luke C (probably sparing umpire Varey serious facial injury in the process). A stubborn last wicket stand from the tail saw Chester to 125/7 off their allotted 24 overs.

Tom G and Jack B open, but Jack goes early to a mis-timed hook to square leg. The Chester opening bowlers are tight, and Tom and Chris B find runs hard to come by. Oxton wickets fall steadily, but Tom finally reaches his 30 retirement score perhaps two or three overs behind par. But well batted! Harry D and Ed T both get themselves in but are then run out before they can make hay from the middle order bowling. Ollie P (21 runs) and Ben T (17) however both step up to the plate (if you'll excuse the baseballing metaphor) and bat very positively indeed and retrieve what was beginning to look like a lost cause into a nail biting finish. Luke and Ollie S maintain the positive attitude and end up requiring 11 off the final over. Great effort, but end up taking 9, thereby losing by single run!!!

A great pity, as a gutsy batting effort was undone by some very lacklustre fielding. No prizes for guessing what we'll be working on at training next Friday.

Result

Chester BH win by 1 run.

Chester 125/7 from 24 overs
Oxton 124/7 from 24 overs

View the full scorecard on the club's play-cricket site.

Scorer's Champagne Moment

Luke C's incredibly nonchalant one-handed catch off his own bowling from a rocket of a shot.

Scorer's (Very Unofficial) Man of the Match

Not awarded

Tip for next match

Last time against Grappenhall the dropped catches didn't matter. They did today, as did numerous misfields. We must be much sharper in the field.