Match report

Skipper Ross lost the toss and Islip elected to bat on an unseasonably hot May afternoon at Abingdon Vale CC. Garr opened up from the river end and got an early breakthrough by bowling the young opener with a fine outswinger.

That brought together Islip's main partnership of the innings between their other opener and number 3 Adeel Rehmann, who in another life plays for Shipton Under Wychwood 1st XI in Cherwell League division 1 (for reference: 7 divisions higher than Garr). Rehmann dominated the scoring but both ticked along nicely, albeit at a leisurely run rate. Despite the heat and lack of wickets, IVCC toiled away, with parsimonious bowling from OM Law, Nick Brown, and the captain helping to keep the scoring to a minimum.

Garr returned to bowl the last 3 overs from the river end and dismissed both the set batsman in the same over, both caught in the covers by Olly, and Islip limped to what seemed like an under par 191 from their 35 overs.

Ferg opened with Ali, with the former quickly having to apologise to all on the field for an atrocious attempted slog; luckily for him, the ball fell safe, but he was so embarrassed at the shot that he turned down an easy single. After this early aberration Ferg settled into a good rhythm and looked in fine fettle. Ali struggled a little for fluency and contrived to get an outside-edge on a delivery which would have missed leg stump and deflected the ball onto his wicket.

This brought debutant Alex Daniels to the crease, at the time a ringer from the host club, but now becoming a regular for the village. Alex, a regular in the 4th XI at AVCC, clearly thinks nothing of reputations and creamed Rehmann through the covers for a couple of peachy boundaries. While he dealt admirably with Rehmann's pace, he struggled against the slower, wilier opening bowler from the football club end, and got a thick edge through to the keeper for 18.

Next in was Tim Morton, who wasted no time in getting into top gear and peppering the pavilion boundary with fours and sixes. Ferg had been playing with some well-judged aggression, but his chances for a maiden IVCC ton were eclipsed by Tim's scoring rate. Ferg hit the winning runs to bring home a comfortable victory with 7 overs to spare, shortly after Tim had been bowled for a superb 73 by a Rehmann yorker which left him prostrate on the ground.