OCCC 274 for 4 (47.2 overs: Ealham 112*, Cope 88, La Costa 46*) beat Radley Rangers 273 (47.1 overs: Barnes 64, Rollings 3-41, Meaker 3-78) by six wickets
The OCCC chased down 274 to beat Radley by six wickets with almost three overs to spare in the 3rd round of The Cricketer Cup to book ourselves a home quarter-final against Old Cliftionians on July 13th.
The innings centred around a third-wicket partnership of 128 between Alan Cope (88) and George Ealham (112*) and finished with a flourish with Luca La Costa (42*) and Ealham adding an unbeaten 76 for the fifth.
Ealham once again showed great maturity and ability in milking the bowling and dispatching anything loose, taking a particular liking to Will Carr who tried exploring the middle of the pitch and whose five overs cost 55. The veteran Cope has obviously still got it and marshalled the first half of the innings. La Costa then calmed any lingering nerves by taking a liking to left arm spinner Kit Morland’s last over, stroking his last three balls for 14 and depositing ex England and Middlesex spinner Jamie Dalrymple into the nets to win the game.
On a baking day, Radley won the toss and opted to bat. Their total initially looked as though it would be considerably larger. After losing a wicket to the fourth ball of the innings, they had 79 on the board in the middle of the eighth over, partly down to overpitching but also to wayward bowling – our contribution to this partnership was 19 in extras. We went on to bowl 27 wides which contributed 47 runs to the total.
From 79 for 1, Radley’s top order was then ripped out. Will Rollings (3 for 41) found his line and length and swung the ball at pace to remove both Ethan Berlisconi (38) and Dalrymple (21). After Ealham (1 for 32) had got rid of Henry Redmayne and Rollings had Christian Hollingworth lbw, both for 0, Radley had been reduced to 85 for 5 in the 12th over. Radley rebuilt and steadily increased the pace of their innings. Morgan Barnes (64) and Carr (49) put on 106 for the eighth wicket in 18 overs but we chipped away. Jack Scriven (1 for 22) and Angus Dahl (1 for 41) kept the run rate in check and Radley were finally bowled out for 273 in the 47th over.
The pitch was good, three of the boundaries were relatively short and the outfield was fast. We have a strong batting line up and they showed their class.
Thanks to Chris McDermott for scoring. It makes a huge difference having him as part of our team. Thanks also to the motely crew of supporters (who outnumbered their opposition) who made the trip and who added to the coffers of a local pub at the same time. Thanks also to Radley for their hospitality.
