26 June 2018
It has been another very busy week since our fixtures against MCS last Saturday. The 1st XI has played the MCC, an Old Abingdonian XI and Winchester College on consecutive days. All were fantastic games, with equally close results.
A draw, 9 wickets down but only 13 runs short, in the MCC game was a strong result against a strong MCC XI. The T20 match against an excellent OA XI on Friday evening went down to the last ball, with the 1st XI falling just 3 runs short of a fantastic victory. This was a great event and we look forward to repeating next year. And finally, the weekend fixture against Winchester College. Bowling our opponents out for 159, we made some steady progress in the early overs despite the loss of Freddie Smith in the second over. With Sam Warren batting fluidly in the middle of the innings and some excellent determination shown by Fergus Mitchell, with a defiant 25 not out, the 1st XI got themselves over the line with just one wicket to spare for a greatly deserved win.
The 2nd and 3rd XIs, away at Winchester made excellent representations on the road. In the field first in both matches, Winchester made 175 in both matches. A great innings of 63 not out from Oscar Frost was unfortunately not enough to finish the match against a strong 2nd XI side, with Abingdon falling to 148 for 5 from their allotted overs. The 3rd XI struggled to build any notable partnerships, although a well made 35 from Patrick Heath showed encouraging signs, the regular loss of wickets meant they were bowled out for 118.
On a tricky wicket, the U15As posted 119 for 7, with Ollie Deans making 40. With Winchester looking well set to chase the target, four quick wickets changed the game, being bowled out for 114 in a close match, with Thomas Owen taking 3 for 21. The U15Bs made an encouraging 157 batting first, with left-hander Krishan Handa making 47. In reply, Winchester fell 12 short in another close encounter at Cox's Field. The U15Cs also had an incredibly close game. Chasing just 93, after bowling Winchester out, they fell 4 runs short for 89 in a nail-biter.
Away at Winchester, the U14 sides completed a clean sweep. Theo Mara took 4 wickets and Caspar Mannix scored 82no to win the A team match by 8 wickets. U13A captain, Max Siriwardene batted beautifully for 46 at the top of the order for the B team, with great support from Ben Dray (37) and Joe Hollis (35) to post 181. Joe Hollis then completed a fine all round game with 3 for 27, bowling Winchester out for 102. The C game was much closer with Abingdon batting first and Ben Lisemore making 34. Winchester were always in the game, but fell just short, bowled out for 101.
