Cumnor 68, Cropredy 71-1 (31.5 overs)

Cumnor won the toss and chose to bat on a dry wicket at Cropredy and looked good for the first 6 overs as the Cropredy bowlers failed to find their length. However, 20-0 soon became 40-6 as first Mark Kirsten (16) and then David Mitty both fell to rash shots, Saul Cobbing failed to move his feet and was bowled, Clive Ricks (10) was lbw to a shooter, Tony Munsey was caught trying to force the pace and Mick Shepheard tried to slog a straight ball that didn't bounce and was bowled. Ali Lee was superbly caught in the gully and Dan Hill offered 8 overs of resistance before playing loosely at a straight one. Skipper Justin Bowerman was bowled by a full toss that looped gently on to the top of his bails, before Gus Shrimpton also fell to a superb gully catch, leaving Simon Howarth on nought not out. What a shower!

Umpire Ian West, wisely choosing to sit this one out could be heard gnashing his teeth in anguish as wickets fell to what can only be described as one of the weaker bowling attacks we are likely to face.

Cropredy chose to show caution chasing the 69 in 78 overs and seemed intent on using every over to reach their target, and the opening spell from Clive Ricks went unrewarded as neither openers showed the skill required to get anywhere close to his array of off cutters, leg cutters and swing. He even bowled 2 front foot no-balls in his frustration - "the first of his long and illustrious career.." Skipper Bowerman gave 8 bowlers a try but with the extreme caution displayed by Cropredy wickets were hard to come by, the only success coming to Ali Lee thanks to a fine catch at slip by Mark Kirsten. Gus Shrimpton coming on 4th change looked lively, but defeat was finally sealed in 32 turgid overs of batting.

Hindsight showed we should have stuck to our winning formula of last season - win the toss, bowl them out and get the runs. Simple.

Cumnor 3 points, Cropredy 30 points