McIver’s 85 hauls Oxford over line

JACK McIVER’S superb 85 guided Oxford to the narrowest of victories over Cardiff in a low-scoring affair at The Parks.

The 24-year-old has already showcased his talent this season with 51 and an unbeaten 27 in pre-season friendlies against Northants and Worcestershire, but his innings was the difference on Wednesday as Oxford won by one wicket with one ball remaining.

Cardiff had earlier put on 176-9 in their 50 overs – a decent effort after their toporder had faltered with Kamau Leverock, Jack Scriven, and Matthew Norris dismissed early on.

But they recovered from 21 for three with Tom Cullen (35) and Alex Milton (38) steadying the ship with a partnership of 61, before Sean Griffiths (25) and Alex Thomson (26) also added 48 for the seventh wicket.

Malcolm Lake (three for 22) and Sam Weller (three for 29) were the pick of the bowlers for Oxford, with Lake removing Scriven and Norris in a devastating opening spell.

But Oxford’s reply got off to an even worse start, as they found themselves 23 for four with Leverock (three for 27) in the middle of the action – clean bowling Calvin Dickinson and Reece Hussain, as well as taking two catches off the bowling of Andrew Westphal.

McIver however arrived with his side 9 for three, and came so close to carrying them to victory as five more men came and went.

Bruno Broughton (27) was the only other man to offer up any resistance, but when McIver was dismissed just 19 runs short of the target it was up to Weller and Jack Grundy – Oxford’s No 10 and 11 – to haul them over the line. SUSSEX’S Ben Brown needs to be on his best behaviour after being reprimanded for a Level One breach of the ECB’s discipline code.

Brown was reported by umpires Nick Cook and Rob Bailey for dissent during the Sharks’ T20 Blast opening clash against Gloucestershire at Bristol last week, which the visitors won by one run on the Duckworth-Lewis system.

The penalty for the offence is a reprimand but it will remain on Brown’s record for two years. The accumulation of nine or more penalty points in any two-year period results in an automatic suspension from first-team cricket.