Sidley frustrated

Sidley 231-8 (48 overs)  - 18 points

St. Peter's 4th XI  145-8 (45 overs)  - 11 points

Man of the match
Craig Ramsden

After a run of successful coin-calls, home side Sidley lost the toss and were put in to bat against the early-season league leaders on a glorious, hot, sunny day. Early wickets fell, but captain Josh Bull accelerated the scoring with eleven 4s in his belligerent 51. After an equally attacking 27 from James Mott, Craig Ramsden continued the surge with 61 n.o., containing four 4s and six 6s. Cavan O'Connor contributed a valuable 27, and with a generous 28 extras from St. Peter's, Sidley were able to set a challenging total of 231-8.

In response, the visitors moved their innings on steadily, but having reached 105-4, were unable to move into a position to cause concern to Sidley. Craig Ramsden took 3-36 off 12 overs, and Jacob McDonough 2-10 off 3 overs towards the end of the innings to give Sidley hope of a well-deserved victory, but time and overs ran out. Paul Oxborrow did some sterling work behind the stumps, taking two catches and a stumping.

This was a much-improved performance by Sidley, and showed that the league title is there for the taking, provided that a high level of consistency can be shown on a week-to-week basis, particularly in the batting. It was particularly good to see Craig Ramsden getting back to top form after a run of bad luck. 

We were honoured with the attendance of a distinguished spectator and supporter - namely Jim Norris, former Sidley player, umpire and club chairman, who enjoyed the opportunity to see the current Sidley team in action, and to reminisce about the players, matches and events at Gulliver's over the years.

Jim Norris with Ian Mollart