Hadleigh and Yoxford served up a high scoring thriller on Sunday afternoon in the Suffolk T20 Cup at Friars Lane.
Hadleigh won the toss and chose to bat first, but it was the visitors who made the better start with Samuel Binks having Adam Miles caught at fine leg by Ben Aust for 2 in the second over. Two balls later, Binks almost had a second wicket when Arran Tampion was dropped in the gully. It was a tough chance, but Tampion made Yoxford pay as he went on to make 50 before retiring. With a fast outfield, runs were easy to come by but the young Yoxford side stuck to their task, never letting their heads drop and taking wickets at regular intervals to slow the run rate down. David Driver, Tom Bond and Mason Stacey all chipped in with a wicket a piece. Mason in particular responding well to being hit for 3 fours in his first over to bowl three more tight overs. Ben Aust, was another to show great character. His first over was dispatched for 20, but tasked with bowling the penultimate over, he only went for 4 runs to help keep the home side below 200. Finishing on 197-5.
Despite a daunting total to chase, Yoxford approached the challenge in a positive manner. There was confidence in the side that this total could be chased down. Despite losing Jamie Thurston early on, Guy Blades, taking advantage of the fielding restrictions in place for the first 6 overs, raced to his half century in double quick time to keep Yoxford up with the run rate. When we retired, his brother Adam and captain, David Driver continued where he left off. Both batsmen run well between the wickets and hit the bad balls to the fence, so much so, that after 10 overs, they were ahead of the required rate on 109-1. David fell for 44 in the 14th over. Adam falling in the next over for a fine 48. With two new batsmen at the crease, the target was 37 off the last five overs. Wickets began to fall, however, and despite a quickfire 15 from Will Driver, the total just proved too much for the visitors as they fell 6 runs short of, what would have been a great victory.
Yoxford's next match in this competition is at home to Melton on Sunday 2pm start.