Oxenhope 82 all out

Sowerby St Peters 86-1

OXENHOPE had a Bank Holiday weekend to forget as they crashed to a nine-wicket defeat to Sowerby St Peters in the Spenser Wilson Halifax League Premier Division.

An already-weakened Oxenhope were further depleted with two late withdrawals.

But that was little excuse for a very poor batting performance, as the home side were dismissed for just 82.

Only Joe Ousey (44) mastered the guile of Matthew Hoyle, who helped himself to 7-30 off his 13 overs.

An early tea preceded an even earlier than normal finish as Sowerby knocked off the required runs in just 15 overs for the loss of one wicket. Ben Watkins (37) and Adam Clarke (38 not out) breezing past the total to leave the home side with no points from the day.

Meanwhile, a 12-point win at third in the table Outlane gave Oxenhope seconds a good chance of finishing out of the relegation places in a tight division.

Although the home side only had nine men, they were always going to prove a difficult side to beat on their home turf.

Put in to bat first, the innings was built around a steady knock of 62 from opener Alex Blenard, Brendan Ellison (28) and Rohid Ali (26) moved things along.

But the innings slumped to 158-6 before Johnny Holden (70) and Andrew Whitehead (52 not out) put together the match-winning stand to propel the total to 274-7.

The home side, renowned for their big hitting, proved true to form as Helliwell (68), Mellor (41) and Ainley (58) blasted their way to 210-3 in just 30 overs and victory in sight.

Ellison, however, provided the breakthrough, removing both openers and Hamzah Khan (3-46) and Holden returned to remove the Outlane tail some 51 runs short with 12 overs still remaining.