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Read the reports from the third round of fixtures in this year’s South Central Counties Cup
Oxfordshire v Hampshire
A tight game played out at Kingston Bagpuize CC as the visitors Hampshire went home victorious having beaten Oxfordshire by 43 runs.
Having been put into bat first, the Rose and Crown initially struggled, losing Pippa Sproul and Abby Stevenson to the bowling of Honor Murray and Emilia Bartram as the visitors were 30-2 at the end of the ninth over.
However, the experienced duo of Ella Chandler and Rachel King, both with Southern Vipers experience, helped Hampshire rebuild as they put on fifty together at the end of the 22nd.
Boundaries were difficult to come by, but the pair ran well between the wickets as the run rate started to climb.
At the start of the 26th over, King won the race to fifty, reaching the milestone from 59 balls, and seven overs later, Chandler was raising her own bat as the team’s 150 was brought up at the same time.
The breakthrough came when King was caught by Chloe Westbury off the bowling of Murray for 56 which brought even more experience in skipper Dani Ransley to the crease.
The pair pressed the accelerator, and a fifty partnership was brought up in just 25 minutes, along with the Hampshire 200 soon after.
In less than seven overs, Chandler and Ransley had doubled their partnership as it surpassed three figures, with the former soon reaching her first half-century for the Rose and Crown in her 68th match.
Chandler meanwhile was into the 90s but fell an agonising seven runs shy of what would’ve been a first Hampshire century.
The runs kept flowing from the bat of Ransley, and with the aid of Anabella Mitchell and Ashneet Chahal, the visitors made it to 283-6 in their fifty overs, with captain Ransley on 68* from just 60 balls.
In pursuit, the home side got off to a cautious start with the run rate hovering around the four mark, but they lost the early wicket of Carla Wood who was run out by Talitha Stanley.
That brought Southern Vipers’ Abi Norgrove to the crease who looked to up the ante, but the Ox’s second wicket fell in the 17th over when Eve O’Neill picked up the wicket of Genny Porter for 28.
The home side’s hundred was brought up at the start of the 23rd over – an over quicker than Hampshire’s – and it wasn’t long after that Norgrove and Ellie Ingram brought up their fifty stand for the third wicket, the runs coming off just 65 balls.
Another eight balls later and Norgrove reached her half-century having spent just over an hour at the crease.
After a partnership of 63 with Emilia Bartram, Norgrove was cleaned up by Ashneet Chahal for 83 from 86, and just two balls later, Bartram herself had to go for 25 in what proved to be a gamg-changing over for Hampshire.
From thereon in, wickets began to fall more regularly and despite a cameo of 16 from Finty Trussler, Darcey Clark cleaned up the Oxfordshire tail to take three wickets in the space of 12 balls, as Oxfordshire were bowled out for 240.
Another tense match was played out between Berkshire and Dorset at Oratory School with the home side coming out victorious by just 32 runs.
Having been put in to bat first, Berkshire started strongly as opening duo of former Viper Ariana Dowse and Academy batter Holly Rider put on a first wicket stand of 91.
Whilst the boundary count wasn’t too high – only six scored between the two batters – the pair ran well between the wickets to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Wicket keeper Dowse was the first wicket to fall for 45 when she chipped a catch to Loren Dean off the bowling of spinner Megan Bishop.
New batter Poppy Tulloch got into her stride and another 50+ partnership was built with Rider, who reached her half-century off 80 balls with a clip through the on side.
Looking to drive through the covers, Tulloch toe-ended a catch to Victoria Pack off the bowling of Leah Cutler for 24 before Megan Bishop picked up her second wicket, pinning Lauren Avery lbw for 10.
Emily Roberts then got in on the action as she picked up the wickets of Issy Storar and Ava Lee for single figures after Rider was caught by Pack of the bowling of Bishop for a well-made 63 as Berkshire slipped from 148-1 to 174-6.
Berkshire skipper Freya Johnson reached double figures as the home side looked to accelerate as the 200 was brought up with nine balls to go.
Tidy bowling in the last over from Caitlin Chissell kept the home side to 206.
In reply, Dorset found themselves struggling at 36-2 as Leah Cutler was castled by Kali-Ann Docherty for two, and Freya Cutler was run out after a mix-up in the middle.
Captain Pack and Chissell started to form a recovery, albeit slightly cautious.
Chissell was cleaned up by an in-ducker from Tulloch for 29 before Ava Lee took a simple return catch to remove Megan Bishop for the same score.
Just one run later, and Berkshire had their fifth as Francesca Clarke clattered into Katie Butler’s off stump, with Emilia Butler bowled by Lee for no score looking to sweep.
Pack was still there though, and nearing a half-century but when Docherty had her driving straight into the hands of Lauren Avery, the visitors needed a further 56 runs from 5.2 overs.
Clever bowling from the Berkshire attack meant that the last boundary came off the bat of Pack in the 43rd over as the run rate continued to climb for the visitors, and a run out off the last ball sealed victory for Berkshire.
Sussex secured a second victory of the tournament as they comfortable defeated Buckinghamshire by seven wickets at the Blackstone Academy Ground.
Having won the toss and choosing to bat first, the Bucks’ innings didn’t quite go to plan as they were bowled out for just 125 in the 46th over.
Lottie Jeffreys reduced the visitors to 20-2 after ten overs as she first had Holly Wilson stumped by Mollie Adams for three before Abbi Whybrow was caught by Daisy Gibb for no score.
Just four balls later and Buckinghamshire found themselves in more trouble as Rosie Lloyd was caught behind for one off Anna Buckle who picked up her second when Caia Stockdale was caught by Phoebe Wilkinson, also for a duck.
A third came Buckle’s way when she cleaned up Hannah Davis for the third blob of Bucks’ innings as the visitors found themselves 38-5 at the end of the 15th over.
Opener Molly Carter managed to avoid the chaos at the other end as she continued to build her innings, eventually ending up as one of only two Buckinghamshire batters to reach double figures.
A change of bowling and Chiara Green came into the attack and she struck in just her second over, bowling Natasha MacBean for five.
Left arm spinner Millie Taylor then picked up Tillie Fellows for four, before Molly Carter was finally dismissed for 44 from 139 balls when she was castled by Daisy Gibb.
Tegan Stockdale managed to remain at the crease long enough to build a partnership with Carter, as the two somewhat rescued the visitors from 58-7 to 116-8.
However, it took just three overs for Sussex to claim the wickets of Rosie Burton-Pye and Hannah Critchley, both bowled by Daisy Gibb and Indigo Gentry respectively.
A positive start in reply by Izzy Collis came to an end in the third over as she was caught by Carter off the bowling of Alissa Shannon for 10 (11), but Phoebe Wilkinson and Lucy Western set about getting stuck into the run chase.
The pair had pushed Sussex to 44-1 at the end of the tenth over with Wilkinson claiming three boundaries whilst Western looked to find the gaps.
Tegan Stockdale got the breakthrough as Western was caught by Tilly Fellows for 15 after a partnership of 52 with opener Wilkinson.
Keeper Adams then joined Wilkinson who looked to accelerate, smacking back-to-back boundaries off Hannah Critchley, only to be caught by MacBean just two runs shy of her half-century.
At 88-3, the home side needed just a further 39 runs to secure victory, which were knocked off within seven overs, as Adams ended on 24* with captain Chiara Green on 15*.
