Willoughby 2nds Vs Great Oakley 2nds

The 2nds travelled the distance to the setting of Great Oakley for this fixture, from Rugby the rain was relentless and the game looked in real jeopardy, once passing Northampton the gloomy rain and clouds lifted to near bone dry roads.

A smart setup awaited the 2nds but with weather around the skipper lost the loss and were put into bat. With the loss of 3 of the top 5 batters skipper Ryan Perry rung the changes and promoted James Andrews (2) to open with Matt Cartridge (29). The innings progressed in an unusual way, runs were particularly easy to come by with the friendly bowling on offer, but the wicket was very inconsistent and accounted for the majority of the top and middle order. Willoughby saw themselves at a healthy 98 off 22overs but for the loss of 7 wickets. With the innings in the balance Martin Nichols ( 42* ) and Rees Moor (48) put on a excellent stand of 81 for the 8th wicket, Moor falling 2 short of a half century. The innings finished 200 for 8 off 40 overs.

After the break things didn't start well as Rees Moor (0 - 17) sustained an early injury and was replaced early by Matt Cartridge (1-23) who provided an early wicket. A stand of 80 from Page (39) and skipper Pratt (34) had Great Oakley on course after 23 overs. A bowling change to Martin Nichols (2 - 5) inspired a comeback as he accounted for both Page and Pratt within 2 overs. Willoughby then pulled back the run rate and runs became increasingly hard to come by. Thornton coming back from injury to record figures of (2 - 8) and a fantastic 10 over spell from Archie McMillan resulting in only 23 runs. In the end Great Oakley spluttered towards 136 for 6 off the allotted 40 overs.