Roxbourne circle the wagons in impressive victory.

Sunday brought new opponents in the guise of Ballinger Waggoners as Roxbourne travelled to leafy Buckinghamshire.

A good all round team performance with every player making a contribution. With 7 different bowlers being used the stand out contributors were Nick Read and John Jowers. With the key turning point being Nick Read bowling the BW captain who up until that point was showing great prowess with the bat and had them on a trajectory towards 220+. However when he fell the screw tightened and John took a succession of quick wickets, with BW finishing their 40 overs on 182.

Roxbourne made steady progress towards the total although none of the top 4 was able to push on from reasonable starts, and at 20 overs we were at 98 for 4 with the match evenly balanced. The next key turning point came with the direct hit on Finlay Reid’s stumps as he scampered a risky single. On a day where sunlight made seeing the batting crease difficult he was given the benefit of the doubt, something the BW team felt slightly aggrieved over.

A feeling I dare say grew as Finlay starting to pile the runs on which would lead to his first Roxbourne 50. He and Ollie Sills eventually comfortably seeing us home.

A good fixture with 2 evenly matched teams on a lovely ground where hopefully we can return next year.