Division 4

Middleton Cheney 'A' v Willoughby 'A'

Middleton Cheney ‘A’ (114 for 6 – 20 pts) beat Willoughby ‘A’ (113 all out – 5 pts) by 4 wickets

No such joy for promotion-chasing Willoughby 'A' as they suffered defeat away in North Oxfordshire, to make life increasingly interesting at the top of Division 4.

Bright warm sunshine masked a damp pitch underneath a hard surface and with it saw the visitors struggle having been put into bat. With losing early wickets and scoring at a little over a run an over, the score at the halfway point of a meagre 26 for 5 meant the situation looked a touch desperate. However Martin Nichols and initially Gurj Rupal offered a comeback in the second half of the innings. Rupal making 24, Nichols last man to fall in the final over having made another captain's knock of 36.

In reply, the hosts found the going equally as tough with finding runs hard to come by. Karl Quinney applied the initial pressure capturing two early wickets before adding a further two scalps from his straight 12 over stint. However Cheney's opener John Ramsdale (44 not out) survived and backed Matt Stevens (21) in mid-order established a platform to take the hosts to within sight of the target. Abbas Mohammed was rewarded with a wicket as was Nichols late on, but despite taking 38 overs to do so the hosts scrambled to the line to take the points.

The defeat leaves Willoughby 'A' still in the second promotion spot, albeit a point head of Preston Capes 'A' in third. It means the final week's games will prove crucial, no more so than the trip to Preston Capes a week on Saturday (22nd August), then the final league game (29th August) at home to rapidly-improving Charlton currently in fourth.