Midweek XI beat Oakfield

Willoughby won the toss and after their customary team chat the skipper decided to set on another warm, humid evening at The Green.
Things started badly when opener Ian Hughes was left bemused by the most rank bowling we have seen all season. 5 no ball or wide beamers on the trot followed by one which dipped late and clipped the edge of his bat around waist height before falling onto his stumps! Desperately unlucky! Sean Thornton fell next trying to hit over mid off. Mid off was not up in the circle but set halfway and the ball went straight down his throat.
But Ashley Rayner and Ben Hollis both played great innings' taking the score to 110 for what proved to be a match winning partnership of 82 before Ash was caught for 41 off 31 balls and Ben Hollis was bowled for 35 off 29 balls. Ash hit 7 4s and Ben cracked 3 4s and a 6. Despite the heat they ran singles hard and sensibly with Ash regularly dispatching short balls behind square on the leg side for boundaries. Chet Rana chipped in for 15 and Simon Nicholls finished 14 not out to help push the score to a very defendable 165/5 from our 20 overs.

Ben Hollis opened the Willoughby attack and struck 3rd ball when he trapped the Oakfield opener LBW. Chris Goodwin (46) pushed the score on for Oakfield as Willoughby rotated the bowlers every 4 overs until Ben pounced again taking a catch comfortably out at long on from the bowling of Captain Simon Nicholls in the 9th over. Nick Crane had another caught behind next over and we were in to the tail with Oakfield on 85/3 and well behind on the run rate. Simon Nicholls bowled 2 more of the middle order before John Gregson had the Oakfield no. 6 stumped with some quick work from Ian Hughes. 2 more wickets fell before the end with Johnny Abbot run out by John Gregson after an accurate, rocket like throw from Matthew Smart at mid on and Nick Crane bowled another. Oakfield finished 40 runs short of their target on 125/8.

A great team performance and for the 2nd week on the trot our middle order batsmen have hit 160 plus despite losing the openers early. Kishan Parmar, Sean Thornton and Patrick McDonnell all bowled well and were unlucky not to get among the wickets. We cut off the boundaries with a deep field and special mention for young Patrick on his debut who looked very sharp in the field and bowled well.

Well done lads!

We're away up the hill next week at Barby where we face Ashby St Ledgers.