TO THE WIRE AGAIN! 

Still chasing their first win of the season, Ley Hill cannot understand how they lost to Downley on Saturday.  Having been held to 159-8, they were literally within a whisker of victory. 

Downley were on 157-9; only three runs from winning.  At the crease were experienced batsman S. Cox and Graham Aitken – a tail-ender in every sense but who had managed to survive 15 balls despite being surrounded by close fielders. 

The next ball he faced missed him, the wickets by a whisker and the wicket-keeper.  The batsmen ran for a run that simply wasn’t there.  Quickly fielded, the ball was thrown wide of the stumps with Aitken well out his ground – an overthrow and the run was back on.  Once again the ball was fielded quickly and there was a shy at the stumps at the other end – with Cox stranded – which also missed the stumps. 

But Aitken hadn’t gone back and now both batsmen were at the same end.  A lob to the wicket-keeper and Ley Hill would win – but instead there was a fast roll along the ground which evaded both stumps and wicky and Cox made good his ground.

This not only gave Downley a precious run but brought the experienced Cox to the crease and two balls later he scored the winning runs for a victory Downley so nearly didn’t get.

Earlier Aitken had torn apart the Ley Hill batting with an excellent and canny spell of bowling (5-34), as Ley Hill fell to their now customary 40-5.  Skipper Kevin Phillips steadied the ship with a good knock of 29 and Jake Wells – later to also be one of the Hill’s bowling heroes – made an impressive and unbeaten 49.

It was a low total to defend but on the bowler’s wicket it was never going to be easy and Downley never looked totally comfortable with their run chase, wickets falling at fairly regular intervals.  Opener Idrees played well for his 38, as did J. Cox for his 36.  But Wells’s 3-32 and Kash Shakoor’s 3-21, plus another great spell from birthday-boy Rob Thompson (2-19 from 9 overs including 5 maidens) kept the pressure on.  Ley Hill took Downley from 108-5 to 149-9 to set up the intense and exciting ending.

Top of Division Two Ley Hill 2^nd X1 had returned early from Little Gaddesdon having been bowled out for 39 – and therefore suffered a quick and humbling defeat – and they joined the crowd as this thrilling match went into its final stages.

Both Ley Hill and Downley managed to drop 5 catches and gave away far too many extras but it all made for a real cracker of a match.