Everards County League: Barkby Seconds hold out for Oakham draw

Captain Adam Cookson sent Oakham into bat on a low bouncing early season pitch.

Cookson (7-0-28-2) bowled full and straight and his patience was rewarded with a wicket, trapped leg before, in his second over.

When Joe Keightley (5-0-20-2) was brought on, the batting side misguidedly decided to attack his end as the Barkby bowler had Southern (38) and Owen (21) caught from mistimed drives.

With Oakham looking to rebuild their innings from 86-3, Dave Botting (10.4-3-33-4) gave United the advantage with his flight and guile on his return to Saturday cricket.

He removed the middle order, aided by leg spinner Ben Hollis (5-1-23-1) who struck with his first ball.

Oakham were teetering on 104-7 when Bell (33) and Brown (37) put on a sensible 80-run stand before Cookson had Brown caught in the deep by his vice-captain Scott Moore.

The final three wickets fell in a heap as Botting cleaned up the tail as the young Barkby team maintained the pressure in the field.

Barkby lost keeper-batsman Lloyd Phillips first ball, and Jack Wilkinson and Ben Hollis fell cheaply after good starts.

Matt Harby attacked the bowlers at both ends, clearing the boundary and running hard in his well-made 49 before he was caught deep on the boundary. Barkby limped towards the line, losing wickets at regular intervals due to poor shot selection on the April wicket.

Conor Percy and Moore were caught for low scores following promising shots, while Jack Woods attempted to drive the wrong ball and Freddie Hammond was trapped lbw.

This left bowlers Cookson and Botting to find another performance, and with the target just out of reach, they looked to target every bonus point. They ticked off the runs, but more importantly kept their wickets to earn the draw.

The Seconds travel to Illston Abbey on Saturday