Last Sunday, the Boys’ U13 and Boys’ U15 sides represented Oxford Cricket Club in their respective County Cup Finals Days, hosted at St Edward’s School.

Starting with the U13s in the first Semi-Final against Goring-on-Thames, captain Mustafa Shah lost the toss and the side were sent out into the field. Ayaan Baig struck early, while Shah himself struck twice in two balls to reduce Goring to 27/3 at the end of the Powerplay. A runout for Harnoor Singh swung momentum further in Oxford’s favour, taking the score to 39/4, with Prithvi Chandrashekhar making it 53/5. Opener Freddie Blackwell and Danny Tiley then rebuilt for Goring, sharing a partnership of 32 before Tiley (19) also fell to Chandrashekhar. Goring finished their 20 overs on 96, with Blackwell finishing unbeaten on 35.

In reply, wicket-keeper Arthur Stewart and fellow opener Dev Gupta put on a partnership of 25 in the first 27 balls. Stewart was removed and replaced by Shah, who went on the attack, hitting a quick-fire 16 from only 8 balls, including two fours and a six. Chandrashekhar kept the momentum going, hitting an unbeaten 31ret from only 13 balls. Gupta expertly played a supporting role at the other end, making a solid 23 from 34 balls. Jacob Rowland (8*) and Bobby Branch (4*) took the side home in just the twelfth over, meaning Oxford emerged victorious by seven wickets.

Over to the U15s, who were taking on Bicester & North Oxford in their Semi-Final. Captain Dara Bannerman won the toss and elected to bat first. He, alongside Cameron Clarke, started positively, putting on 24 in the first three overs. Bannerman (16) was dismissed, shortly followed by Clarke (17) and Dylan Parkinson (3). At 57/3, Siddhant Nirmal (20) and Xander Smith (10) rebuilt, before a cameo of 20 from 13 balls by Cole Parekh took the team to 133 all out with two balls remaining in the innings.

In response, Bannerman and Parekh bowled throughout the Powerplay, conceding only 34. Bannerman (1-21) then removed Gus Floyd (16), and Nirmal (2-17) struck twice to leave Bicester & North Oxford 68/3. Krish Nair then struck to remove captain Finley Moss, taking the score to 83/4, with 51 required from the final 24 balls. Nair (2-16), Oliver Golding (2-7), and Joseph Parrack (0-1) held their nerve in the death overs, as Oxford won by thirty-four runs. Both teams into their respective finals!

Back to the U13 Final, which was to be played against Banbury. Shah lost his second toss of the day and his side were asked to bat first. Gupta kept up his form from the Semi-Final, making another valuable 21 from 30 balls, while Shah made an unbeaten 30ret from 24 balls in the face of some tight Banbury bowling. 75/2 became 88/5 as Chandrashekhar, Rowland, and Branch were removed in quick succession, but Baig (15) and Jack Wale (15*) put on a very timely 35-run partnership to help Oxford finish on 124/7 from their allocation.

Two sharp pieces of fielding by Rowland and Stewart, with a wicket in between for Baig, left Banbury wobbling at 14/3 in the fourth over. An unbeaten 31ret from 36 balls from wicket-keeper James Acton kept Banbury in the fight however. Singh, Rowland, and Shah each struck to leave Banbury 79/6, before Branch (3-7) blew away the tail to cap a thirty-three run win for Oxford, meaning they merged as the winners of the Ron Maudsley Cup!

Ali Shah, Coach and Team Co-Manager, was incredibly proud of the team, and had this to say:

“It’s been a pleasure to work with the boys. They have worked hard in the practice sessions and in the prior games.”

“The finals day shows how much progress they have made already this season.
Hopefully there will be more to come.”

The U15 final was against our rivals from Cutteslowe Park, Wolvercote. Bannerman lost the toss and Wolvercote chose to bat first. As in the Semi-Final, Bannerman and Parekh opened the bowling, with the latter bowling his four overs for only thirteen runs, three overs of which were in the Powerplay. Nirmal finally broke a 49-run opening stand between Josh Pereira (13) and Adittya Nair (35) at the start of the ninth over. Nirmal struck again to make the score 59/2, before Parekh removed captain Max Lucking for 19, leaving Wolvercote 88/3. What followed was an astonishing unbeaten 55ret off just 25 balls by Wolvercote’s Suleiman Ayyaz, which included two fours and five sixes, as they finished on an above-par 153/5 from their twenty overs. Nirmal was the pick of the Oxford bowlers, with 3-33 from his four overs.

In reply, Oxford lost Clarke (1), Parkinson (3), Nirmal (10) and wicket-keeper Angus Barnard (1) inside the Powerplay to leave them wobbling at 34/4 from the first six overs. Bannerman (24) and Golding (13) steadied things, but when Bannerman was dismissed midway through the fifteenth over, Oxford required an unlikely 68 from the remaining 27 balls. The tail saw them bat their full allocation, but resulting in a forty-two run defeat.

Team Coach and Co-Manager Steve Hurt had this to say after the game:

“The U15s had a great run in the Cup this year and continued this form into the semi-final with a win against Bicester & North Oxford. A crucial last-wicket partnership gave us enough runs on the board to apply pressure with the ball in the second innings. In the final we came up against familiar opponents in Wolvercote. Fielding first, we kept good control for the first ten overs but some exceptional hitting in the last few overs meant Wolvercote posted a challenging total of 153. Unfortunately, this proved too many for us but the boys kept fighting right until the last ball. My sympathies to Xander Smith who fractured his thumb in the semi-final and was unable to take any further part in the action. A huge thanks to Joe Joyce for stepping in at the last minute to replace Xander. I would also like to thank Peter Joyce for his help with coaching the team and to Simon Barnard for scoring both games. We wish Wolvercote all the best for the national knockout rounds".

Arthur Muir, Director of Youth Cricket, was full of praise for both teams, and wanted to acknowledge all those whose contributions helped make these achievements possible:

“Brilliant to see both our U13s and U15s Boys reach their Cup finals – a huge achievement. Congratulations to all the players and thank you to the parents for their support throughout.”

“Special credit to the coaches, who’ve given up so much of their time over the years to coach, score and umpire – this success is down to them as much as anyone.”

“It wasn’t to be two trophies this time, but a fantastic moment for the U13s, who lift the Ron Maudsley Cup for the first time in around 20 years – going back to when a certain Muir last featured!”

“Our youth section keeps going from strength to strength, and this is thoroughly deserved for everyone involved.”

We as a Club are incredibly proud of both teams for getting this far and would like to thank the players, their parents, and the Coaching Teams of Ali Shah, Simon Barnard, & Matty Wyatt (U13), and Steve Hurt & Peter Joyce (U15) for all their efforts off the field. We could also like to thank the Oxfordshire Cricket Board for their running of both competitions, and to St Edward’s School for hosting an excellent day of cricket.

Images courtesy of Steve Hurt and Chandru Lakshminarayanan.