Oxford and Bletchingdon Nondescripts won the toss and chose to bat. A tidy spell from Harry Sutton and Jonny Law left Nondies with very little after the first 15 however Downs failed to get an early breakthrough.
This was before the Downs Spin attack came on with Johnny Meardon and Wasim Mehmood bowling in tandem and both managing to pick up two wickets each. Also worth mentioning is the fantastic direct hit run out from Tom Costly to dismiss their settled opener. Nondies had failed to gain any momentum in the first 30 overs however this changed with wickets in hand, with a quick fire blast from the Nondies they managed to score 50 runs in the last 5 overs to finish on 180 – 5 off of their 40 overs.
After Saturdays performance Oxford Downs were feeling confident that this was going to be a quick tidy up much like we did against Tiddington. However this proved not to be the case.In the first over of the innings Frankie Crouch was run out by the Skipper, Wasim Mehmood, without facing a delivery and Wes Bartlett was dismissed first ball.
Waz and Amin then stepped up and began the resistance. A slow and solid partnership from the pair allowed Downs to gain momentum before Amin nicked off to the keeper for 28. Once again Tom Costley came to the rescue smashing the ball to all parts of the ground before also nicking off to the keeper on an impressive score of 54.
Oxford Downs began another collapse with Harry Sutton(0), Wasim Mehmood (45) and Jonny Law (6) all being dismissed in short space of time.
Nondies sprits were high however they were not prepared for a display of what can only be described as class, elegance and courage from Paddy Daniels and James Florey who saw us over the finish line with an over to spare going at a run a ball for 6 overs.
It was a nail biting finish and one hell of a game from start to finish. Now to take this momentum in to the county final away against Shipton-Under-Wychwood CC on the 12th of June.
See you there!
Many of the Match: Tom Costley