Oxenhope 134 all out

Booth 138-5

THE final game of the season stayed true to the pattern of so many Oxenhope games this year in the Spenser Wilson Halifax League Premier Division.

Oxenhope failed to post a competitive total and the bowlers produced a valiant effort, but all to no avail as runners-up Booth condemned the team to relegation.

Put in to bat opener Josh Fleetwood dug in to eventual hit 28 but four wickets fell at the other end to Nigel Horsfall (3-26).

This was before Bobby Fielden (18) and Josh Tetley (30) gave the visitors some hope, but after their dismissal only Eddie Jackson (23) made any significant contribution to the total of 134, Matthew Hoyle (3-20) being the other major wicket-taker.

In reply, openers Robert Worsnop and Steven Senior were quickly removed. But the Laycock brothers, Robert (54no) and Richard (26), put the game quickly out of reach.

The failure to reach the maximum batting points on all but four occasions has been at the heart of the team's problems.

The highlights were the continued development of Joel Fothergill and Ben Howell in the bowling department and Chris Kibble making a number of significant contributions with the bat.

Meanwhile, Oxenhope II performed their own version of the great escape, beating Colnebridge by four wickets.

Rock bottom with four games to go, they won all four matches comfortably to incredibly finish in third place in the league - so close were the teams.

This was a key battle with the winner likely to survive and openers Zafar Iqbal (25) and Iqar Hussain (28) put on 50 for the first wicket.

This was before Luke Fleetwood (3-16) and Rohid Ali (5-22) ripped through the batting order to leave the visitors on 59-9 before Aaqib Iqbal (15) brought some respectability to the score before the innings was terminated on 77.

The home side had a few scares as Iqar Hussain took 3-36, but James Marshall (14), Alex Blenard (15) and Anas Tanveer (16) made the game safe.

Their team secure a third place finish and leave time to reflect on what might have been had a string or poor results early in the season been avoided.