The 3rds hosted Kimble 2nds on Sat 24 June, playing on the smaller Mansion pitch at Cokethorpe. Having been put in to bat, we thought a score of 250+ would be needed on the fast outfield and shorter boundaries.
Openers Rob Owen and Sean Bellenie got the scoreboard moving quickly with 37 coming from the first seven overs, before both departed, each on 15. Harry Gillam and Tom Ling then added 41 from the next seven overs before Tom was out. This brought Mukesh in with Harry and they added 91 from the next 11 overs. Mukesh fell LBW for 34, with Harry being caught behind within 2 overs for an excellent 80. The high scoring rate continued with Dave Spilsbury and Alex Bellenie each scoring 17 supporting Matthew Young through to the end of our innings, Matthew finishing with 42no. Our final total of 271-7 felt about right.
Opening bowlers Rachael Potter and Dave Spilsbury got us off to a great start, bowling quickly and accurately, enabling strong offside fields to be set to restrict the Kimble batsmen’s scoring opportunities. Dave picked up two wickets in his third over before Rachael got the wicket her bowling deserved. In the next over, Dave took a smart return catch to reduce Kimble to 47-4 in the 14th over. An assault on our target never looked likely, but we were keen to press home our advantage. Matthew Young and Alex Bellenie replaced our opening bowlers and both quickly had success. Matthew bowled very quickly and, over the next 9 overs, this pair collected the final six wickets, Alex taking 2-11 and Matthew 4-15. Kimble were all out for 85, giving us a winning margin of 186 runs. Well done to everyone in the team, next up on Saturday is Thame Town 3rds.