Oaksey extend lead without playing as title rivals all slip up

IT was another extraordinary week in the Cain & Fuller CDCA Division One where the second, third and fourth placed teams all lost to teams from lower in the table while runaway leaders Oaksey extended their lead without needing to play.

Second placed Barnsley Beeches lost their third game in a row as the South Cerney revival continued.

Cerney posted 210-4 thanks to excellent contributions from James Bayliss (71) and Garrick Chivers (64).

Despite a decent spell from Jay Thomson (2-22) late runs from Chris Wearing (30) ensured maximum batting points for Cerney.

In reply Mehul Patel (74) marked his debut with a fine knock but he found little support as Chivers (5-46) and Sam Catterall (2-28) ran through the batting order to leave Barnsley well short on 138 all out.

Third placed Minety & Northleach came unstuck as bottom placed Bibury left with the points.

The Bibury innings got off to an uncertain start with Stuart Hobbs (4-44) bowling well but a good partnership between Charlie Robinson (43) and A Carman (45) put them in a good position.

Late wickets from John Robson (2-12) helped the home cause but a fine innings from Mark Bandara (56*) saw the visitors to 204-9.

The home response started poorly but Tony Gardner (39), Darren Hall (34) and Stuart Hobbs (32) put the hosts in a good position until Sachin Bandara (3-25) and R Canestra (2-35) took out the middle order then Mark Bandara (3-31) capped a fine all round performance to leave the hosts 28 runs short on 176-9.

Ashton Keynes’ run up the table was halted as they went down to Longborough & Sezincote in a low scoring game.

Wickets fell steadily on a difficult surface as Tom Finnie (5-19) ran riot and only Henry Leonard (24) and Joe Newbould (22) reached the twenties as Chris Yeates (2-13) and Jack Thomas (2-48) completed the job to leave the visitors 103 all out.

However Ashton Keynes found batting just as difficult, although Jamie Collister (43) batted very well.

Wickets fell all around him as Luke Mcdonah (3-16), Carl Luker (3-22), Newbould (2-19) and Ryan Theron (2-24) left the batting order in tatters.

Tom Finnie (22) provided hope but his wicket led to his team falling nine runs short as they were all out for 94.

Leaders Oaksey were gifted 20 points as Fairford II were unable to raise a side and find themselves with relegation worries.