After a delayed start, Teddington was asked to field first to the disappointment of our returning overseas, Tim Armstrong, who would have preferred the opportunity for a long bat before the league season. As it turned out, this wasn’t going to be an issue.
Pollock and Sever took the new ball, whilst the Oxford openers compiled a steady start to their innings. The introduction of James Keightley brought about the first wicket as he trapped Escott (8) leg before. Keightley followed up with his second wicket bowling Naylor for 17 as Oxford made their way to 60 for 2 off the first 15 overs. This brought to the crease Rackow (58) who along with captain Hughes (40) increased the scoring rate and took the attack to the Teddington bowlers. At the drinks break 220 looked to be the par score, but after some fairly lacklustre bowling and fielding from the home side, restricting Oxford to below 300 soon became the objective. Oxford eventually reached 286 for 6 after their allotted 50. Overall, a disappointing fielding display from Teddington with much improvement required before the first league game starts next week (particularly with the over rate!). 286 would however provide the batters an opportunity get some runs under their belt in a chase.
Teddington started with good intent as Keightley looked in imperious form carving Pettman through the offside for three fours in an over. Sadly on attempting his fourth, a miss-timed square drive led to his dismissal as he was caught in the gully. Fear came to the crease and quickly departed, edging Marsden through to the keeper without troubling the scorers. This brought together last season’s leading run scorers, Twiney and Armstrong, who continued where they had left off six months ago. A combination of brutal power and graceful touch saw both men dissect the Oxford attack with ease as the scoreboard raced along. Both reached their well-deserved hundreds at better than a run a ball and reached the target of 286 with more than 7 overs to spare. A fantastic all round batting display that brought to a close a very Jekyll and Hyde performance from the 1st XI. Much better efforts in the field required next week please!