Oxford got the defence of their title off to a perfect start with a 69-run victory against last season's runners-up Slough at Romanway on Saturday in the Home Counties Premier League Division 1.
A cracking all-round team display, highlighted by a brilliant run out from Jack Brooks, secured Oxford's success with 13 balls to spare over the side they pipped for the title on countback.
Put in to bat, Oxford were reeling at 65-4 before New Zealander Rajiv Sharma and Ian Crosby saw them safely through to lunch without further loss.
advertisement
After the interval, Sharma was dismissed for 37, and Crosby was joined by the returning Patrick Jobson, who missed last season through a golfing injury.
The pair put on 90 runs for the sixth wicket, with Crosby being dismissed eventually for an aggressive 76, which came off only 86 balls
Jobson remained unbeaten on 41 as Oxford posted a challenging 224-9 off their 66 overs.
In reply, both Brooks and Philip Evans picked up early wickets.
Slough's captain Bobby Sher played a resilient innings until he was brilliantly run out by Brooks.
This proved to be the turning point, and Sharma, Brooks and Rupert Evans cleaned up the tail to give Oxford victory with 13 balls to spare.
All-rounder Sharma completed a fine debut, taking 3-21.
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
Comment
