Risinghurst Cricket Club

Recap

By Connor Wakefield

Following a heart-breaking loss to Abingdon Vale on Saturday, Risinghurst 2’s were once again in action on Sunday. Cup Semi-Final fever hit the East-Oxford suburb with crowds of at least 20, two dogs and John with his bicycle joining the two teams and respective umpires at a sun-baked Grovelands Road.

East and West Hendred 2’s were the visitors, having made the trip up the A34 just two weeks prior, coming out victorious by 13 runs. Hendred are one of our favourite teams to play against, with a great bunch of lads and a mixture of youth and experience. Not only that, but every game we have played over the last few years has been full of drama, and Sunday was to be no exception.

With the two teams camped up under trees around the ground, the two skippers opted for an early toss. Keeping with tradition, Connor lost it, though E&W Hendred may have felt they could replicate their fantastic bowling antics of two weeks before and opted to bowl first.

And things got off to a flyer for Hendred as a delightful ball was poked at by C Wakefield (C), caught behind by his opposite number Liam Richards (WK/C) for only 2 runs. The tight bowling continued, with H Raza (13), and Ben Masih (10) falling quickly. The double wicket maiden from A Leishman (3-20), saw the end of Beno (0) and Faisal Munir (3), with Dom Gurden (7) falling not soon after.

This spell of bowling left Risinghurst 58-6 off 21 overs, and you would be forgiven for thinking this spelt the end for the home team. However, Risinghurst vs Hendred has a consistent theme. Early wickets followed by a late order rebuild, and today was to be no exception. Raj Kumar (53) & Justin Sammuller (43) put on a show for the crowds as they started to add to the score. Some large fours and sixes followed, and whilst Justin was originally caught on what was assumed to be 49, a recount between the scorers removed some of the disappointment from his face. However, not long after Raj Kumar also fell for 49, though his disappointment turned to delight as the recount found him 4 runs short, finishing on 53.

James Cole (3) fell soon after, and whilst Kyle Brooks (0*) looked to have some intent, a glorious shot back down the ground spelled the end for Ishaq (3) and Risinghurst, with the bowler getting a hand to the ball to deflect it back onto the stumps. Risinghurst finished 158 a.o after 36.3 overs.

In reply, Ishaq & Cole started brilliantly, with some tight bowling seeing off one of the Hendred openers for 1, and keeping them down to 15-1 from 10 overs. Another wicket fell in the next, however a period of recovery begin for Hendred with the bowling of Sammuller, Beno & Raza being seen off over the next 10 overs for the loss of just one wicket, leaving the game poised at 76-3 from 20 overs. However, a change to around the wicket to the classy Barksfield from Hasan saw him take the talented youth for 13. The following over, the bowling of Raj Kumar on a dying pitch took the all important wicket of the Hendred skipper Richards for 38, tilting the game into Risinghurst’s favour once again, with the score at 80-5 from 22 overs. The next few overs passed by with the occasional boundary and two wickets, however it was only when Ragunathan walked into the crease at 96-7 was Risinghurst’s resolve tested. Some power hitting, with two huge sixes from Raza’s last over, took them quickly to within 35 of their required total.

However, some intelligent play from Risinghurst in fielding & rotation of strike allowed them to keep the following overs under control, with a further wicket falling to Raj Kumar’s bowling as James Cole came back on for the all important death bowling.

With 31 required from the last four overs, confident number 11 Peter Buckley showed great resolve in assisting Ragunathan, though he never quite found the middle of the bat as Justin’s slow, full & wide bowling gave him little to play with, whilst the class of a James Cole in full flow was just too much for the two batsmen.

With just three overs to go and still 21 to find, Ragunathan missed a straight one from James Cole, securing a win for a jubilant Risinghurst side backed by members of the non-playing squad and other spectators.

With a score of 53, and bowling figures of 3-25 from 5 overs, Raj Kumar was presented with the Man of the Match award by skipper, Connor Wakefield. There are notable mentions for James Cole (7-2-14), as well as Ishaq (5-1-4) who played through a bad back injury for most of the second innings. Justin can also be proud of his power hitting, whilst Faisal Munir was on fire behind the stumps.

This was a historic win for Risinghurst 2’s with the squad making only their second ever cup-final. They will go again on the 15th of August at a location to be determined against Cropredy 3’s, vying to win their first ever cup.