Oxenhope 155 all out

SBCI 75 all out

OXENHOPE finally got their season under way with a home victory over SBCI in a game that was one of the few in the Spenser Wilson Halifax League Premier Division not to be interrupted by the weather.

The visitors won the toss and invited the home side to bat first on a drying wicket.

The top order looked to be setting the platform for a big score with Josh Fleetwood making 39 and Ben Howell looking promising until dismissed on 13.

Lewis Hopkinson was the mainstay of the innings with 73. That turned out to be the difference between the two sides with the last seven batsmen totally just 18 runs between them.

SBCI shared the wickets out with three each for Thomas Wood and Ross Benson and two each for Oliver Benson and Daniel Sykes.

Feeling they had every chance of making the modest total, SBCI opened up aggressively with Thomas Wood (23) and Simon Wood (16) moving them quickly past 30. This was before Liam Dyson took the first of his two wickets and then Ben Howell came on first change to rip out the middle order on his way to figures of 4-14 off his eight overs.

Wickets fell cheaply and there was even a chance for veteran Duncan Tetley to exhibit his footballing and gymnastic skills trapping a hard hit ball with his foot before rolling on his back to gently loop the ball at the stumps to run Daniel Sykes out.

Scott Mallinson wiped out the tail two wickets in three maiden overs to dismiss SCBI for just 75.

Meanwhile, Oxenhope II slipped to defeat in a rain-affected game against Upper Hopton II reduced to just 25 overs.

The visitors put home side Hopton in to bat but runs came freely down the order with six of the seven batsmen who got to the crease making double figures, Matthew Haigh top scoring with 30 in their 137-6 total.

For Oxenhope Robbie Carling was the pick of the bowlers with two wickets. He was also to feature in the batting, making 30 at number three, only outscored by Graham Ellis with 31 not out as Oxenhope fell well 36 short of the total on 101-8.

With Oxenhope II's not competing in this year's Parish Cup, all hopes were focused on the first XI who had a challenging first round draw at Triangle.

Oxenhope put the home side in to bat at a ground known for high scores and Liam Dyson stuck with an early wicket.

Triangle adopted their usual aggressive style and Carl Fetcher (52) and Chris Metcalf (48) soon moved the total to near a hundred before Ben Howell took the first of his five wickets and slowed the innings.

Lewis Hopkinson joined him in tandem and wickets continued to fall, but at the expense of often more than 10 runs per over. Hopkinson finished with four wickets as the innings closed on 232 in just 36 overs.

Confidence was high as Josh Fleetwood batted sensibly to a top score of 52, but it was a familiar tale of batsmen getting a start into double figures then falling to catches.

Chris Kibble (22) and Josh Tetley (36) staged a late rally but the game was up for 167 all out as Joshua Graham added five wickets to his 35 runs to seal the victory.