A win, at last, a win. Yes yesterday we recorded our first win since June. Mayfield won the toss and after careful consideration elected to bat in a 40 overs game.Both James and Alex were unlucky to go wicketless in their opening spells and it was Mike who eventually grabbed the first wicket. Mayfield then built an impressive platform to reach 155-1 after 30 overs and they looked set to launch a 10 over blitz until Nadir picked up a well deserved wicket in the last over of an excellent spell and wickets continued to tumble as Mayfield closed on 202 for 6. Alex and Rich each claimed a wicket and Mike grabbed a second. Nadir took two steepling catches and helped with a run out. 

After a disappointingly meagre tea we were soon in trouble as Allan and Mike were both caught behind in the first 6 overs. Bruce and Arjun both struck big sixes before falling and we were 40 for 4 when Gaj was joined by Nadir. These two put on 75 in good time with Gaj hitting plenty of boundaries before falling for 32. Nadir now became the dominant partner as he and Rich took the score onto 175 before Rich was run out attempting a tight third run. I gloved my first ball and it was left to Alex to take up the charge. He hit a couple of quick boundaries and when out the target was down to 12 off 17 balls when James went out to bat. We needed 11 off the last two overs and Nadir hit 9 of those off the first 5 balls before being out for a superb 74. This left Tony with one ball to face in very poor light against a quickish bowler, but he managed it with his usual aplomb. Three balls later James lofted a drive over the infield for the winning runs and the celebrations began.

Mayfield 202-6, 40 overs (Knight 2-29 (8 overs), Bennett 1-29 (8 overs), Gohar 1- 31 (8 overs), Millett 1-61 (8 overs), Gleadow 0-27 (8 overs))

OCCC 203-9, 39.3 overs (Gohar 74, Srikanthan 32, Todd 19, Rego 16)

Result: OCCC won by 1 wicket

Man of the Match: Nadir Gohar

Richard Hillman