Cerney on the verge of title after sinking rivals

SOUTH Cerney took a massive step towards their first Cain & Fuller CDCA Division One title by overwhelming nearest rivals Poulton II in a one-sided match.

Batting first hosts Cerney took the game to their opponents from ball one as Jay Russell was out one short of a deserved century but by then the damage was done as he received excellent support from opening partner Dan Mobley (29) and James Bayliss (67*) in a challenging total of 246-6.

After the break Poulton struggled to make any headway against accurate bowling as Jason Stevens (3-13), Dave Leith (2-14), Craig O’keefe (2-24) and Sam Catterall (2-24) all produced excellent figures.

Only Jake Harris (27) and Matt Genever (22) made any headway as the visitors were bundled out for 127 leaving Cerney one win away from the title.

Barnsley Beeches who had a very comfortable win over Bibury, who got off to a decent start with Charlie Robinson (32) continuing his prolific form.

However he received little support at the other end as Ed Latter (5-24) ripped through the middle order and tail leaving the hosts all out for 117.

Barnsley got off to a poor start with loss of a couple of early wickets to Mark Hayes, however Basim Sarfraz (43* including six fours and three sixes) and Josh Odom (29*, five fours) propelled Barnsley to victory.

Oaksey’s slim hopes of another title disappeared at Longborough & Sezincote whose recent resurgence continued.

After being inserted the loss of Tom Cook to the first ball of the match was a shock that Oaksey struggled to recover from.

Hector Whitrow (36) and Sam Holdway (35) provided some hope but the rest of the batting were unable to rise to the occasion as Longborough produced a fine all round bowling performance from Ryan Theron (3-38), Gary Luker (2-24), Josh Newbould (2-27) and Luke Mcdonah (2-27)as Oaksey stuttered to 143 all out.

An outstanding opening spell from Whitrow (4-35) got the visitors off to a great start and a good contribution from Ken Lane (2-40) put Oaksey in a winning position.

However Longborough took the bold approach, initially through Luker (33), then with an unbeaten eighth wicket partnership between Newbould (38*) and Martin Harvey (28*) as the target was reached.

Unable to raise a side Great Rissington II and Stow on the Wold forfeited their matches to Ashton Keynes and Oakridge respectively leaving both perilously close to the drop.