Buckingham Town’s weekend match reports – 8th June 2024.
After a disappointing defeat to Stoke Green the previous week Buckingham bounced back with a strong all-round performance against Oxford to get their Home Counties campaign back on track.
In the final fifty over game before the switch to timed cricket Buckingham travelled to Oxford, with the home side winning the toss and fielding first. The decision didn’t pay off as the visitors made a fast start through Araash Raja. Promoted to open the batting he took a liking to the Oxford opening bowlers with regular boundaries as he scored a quickfire half century in just 26 balls. Dylan Van Der Westhuizen gave him good support as the pair put on 93 inside 15 overs. Oxford skipper George Tait eventually made the breakthrough as he trapped Van Der Westhuizen lbw for 25 and then quickly followed that up by bowling Dan Blacktopp for 1. The rate slowed slightly following the double strike, and Oxford struck twice more either side of drinks as Rohan Hariharan picked up the key wicket of Raja for 87 (67 balls) and then the in-form Jake Tarling for 16. Stand-in skipper Chad Barrett and Jono Tuffin rebuilt the innings, keeping the runs ticking over with strong running between the wickets. Oxford tried a variety of bowlers but both batsmen looked comfortable as they took the score past 200. Barrett reached his fifty first (61 balls) before being bowled next ball by Subhan Javaid to end a fifth wicket partnership of 99. Tuffin reached his own half-century from 55 balls and went on to make 67 from 68 balls as Buckingham scored at a run a ball through the final overs. Javaid hit back with two further wickets, including Tuffin, and Tait also claimed a third as Buckingham finished on 268 for 8.
Fresh from his runs Tuffin led the Buckingham bowling from the front as he removed all of Oxford’s top three in his opening spell. Tarling and James Gear then both struck early in their spells to reduce the innings to 67 for 5 in the fifteenth over. Tait was trying to counter attack and looked comfortable at the wicket as he scored 32 from 34 balls. He survived a drop by Blacktopp off Tarling but in the next over gave the same fielder a second chance and this time there was no mistake. With the required rate comfortably over a run-a-ball the chase was as good as done, although Brendon Smith (30) and Balaji Ramalingam (24) ensured it wasn’t a quick finish as they put on 38. Rahil Zaman broke the stand when he bowled Smith but Ramalingam took the score past 150. When he fell to the returning Gear though the last three wickets went down for 9 runs as Buckingham won by 106 runs. Gear finished with 4 for 27 while Tuffin took 3 for 29.
Buckingham
D. Van Der Westhuizen lbw b Tait 25 (46)
A. Raja c Smith b Hariharan 87 (67)
D. Blacktopp+ b Tait 1 (4)
J. Tarling c Ramalingam b Hariharan 16 (31)
C Barrett* b Javaid 50 (62)
J. Tuffin c Wilkins b Javaid 67 (68)
J. Jackman c Ashton b Javaid 1 (4)
S. Beck lbw b Tait 3 (7)
J. Purchase Not Out 2 (4)
R. Zaman Not Out 5 (7)
Extras (4lb, 7w) 11
Total 268-8
50 overs
FoW: 93-1 (Van Der Westhuizen, 14.5); 102-2 (Blacktopp, 16.2); 123-3 (Raja, 22.2); 135-4 (Tarling, 26.2); 234-5 (Barrett, 43.6); 242-6 (Jackman, 45.5); 258-7 (Tuffin, 47.4); 260-8 (Beck, 48.4)
D. Swanepoel 9-0-69-0 (1w)
J. Wilkins 8-2-44-0 (1w)
G. Tait 10-1-36-3 (2w)
S. Javaid 6-0-46-3
B. Ramalingam 5-0-27-0 (2w)
R. Hariharan 5-0-15-2
B. Smith 7-1-27-0
Oxford
M. Parma c Tarling b Tuffin 21 (38)
V. Perera c Blacktopp b Tuffin 8 (12)
W. Ashton b Tuffin 4 (9)
G. Tait* c Blacktopp b Gear 32 (34)
J. Wilkins c Blacktopp b Tarling 0 (2)
D. Swanepoel b Gear 8 (8)
B. Smith b Zaman 30 (60)
B. Ramalingam c Tarling b Gear 24 (48)
T. Norton+ lbw b Gear 15 (24)
R. Hariharan c Blacktopp b Raja 2 (5)
S. Javaid Not Out 4 (2)
Extras (2lb, 12w) 14
Total 162 all out
40.3 overs
FoW: 24-1 (Perera, 4.5); 32-2 (Ashton, 8.1); 46-3 (Parma, 10.5); 47-4 (Wilkins, 11.3); 67-5 (Swanepoel, 14.2); 94-6 (Tait, 22.5); 132-7 (Smith, 32.3); 153-8 (Ramalingam, 38.4); 156-9 (Hariharan, 39.4); 162-10 (Norton, 40.3)
J. Tuffin 8-0-29-3 (3w)
A. Raja 7-0-32-1 (4w)
J. Tarling 8-1-37-1 (2w)
J. Gear 8.3-0-28-4
J. Jackman 5-0-15-0
R. Zaman 4-0-19-1 (1w)
Buckingham win by 106 runs.
Buckingham – 20 points
Oxford – 6 points
Buckingham 2nds beat Wolverton 1sts by 10 wickets
Wolverton made 118 after a middle order collapse, which wasn’t helped by three run outs. Pick of the bowling was Oscar Phillips 3-3, David Barnes 2-7 with Matthew Thatcher and S. Sriyarathne bowling tight.
Thatcher 42 not out and Tom Woodham 60 not out saw Buckingham home to victory comfortably.
Stokenchurch 1sts beat Buckingham’s 3rd team
The Oxon team scored 195-9 with Town II bowlers Richard Pengelly 3-20 and Amit Chauhan 2-26.
Town’s reply saw them dismissed for 115 with Anant Peshavaria (44 not out) top scoring. Only two other batters reaching double figures; Pengelly(18) and Adrian Johnson|(14).
Town 4th XI win against Bicester & North Oxford 3rd
Town’s 4th made a modest 108 all out against Bicester & North Oxford 3rds with Alex Romaine (34) and Neil Spicer (31) and Scrinivarsan (29) top scorers.
Bicester were dismissed for 73 thanks to Romaine 4-10 and Max Spicer 2-20.
