CCA Junior League 2C

Royston 236-9 (40 overs)

Ashwell 175 (37)

Royston won by 61 runs

ROYSTON continued their fine spell of form with another convincing win away from home at Ashwell on Saturday.

Skipper Paul Harris won the toss and elected to bat on what looked a decent wicket and with relatively short boundaries. They opened up with Rory Harper and Mick Miller, both of whom were in form from their 95 run opening stand the previous week away at Thriplow, and they continued from where they had left off as the runs immediately began to flow. With the score on 50 after only a handful of overs, Harper was bowled by Tauseef Jan for 28, and then was closely followed by Miller for 29, with the score 76-2.

Martin Leary and Paul Miller looked to carry on the good work and Leary looked to be scoring freely, racing to 42 before being caught. Paul Leary came and went for only one run and Paul Miller was caught at square leg for seven with the score now 117-5.

Sam Montague-Fuller and Robert Hall steadied the ship to put on 46 for the sixth wicket before Hall (12) was finally dismissed by Scott. Royston skipper Harris joined Montague-Fuller and set about dispatching the Ashwell bowling attack.

Montague-Fuller fell lbw for 42 with the score on 194-7, before Harris (39) was caught. Bonham Harper and Jon Harper added another couple of boundaries to the Royston total and the innings came to an end on 236-9, a competitive total in the end and a good recovery from 117-5.

After tea, Leary and Harris opened up for Royston and bowled with pace and accuracy, and Leary was finally rewarded with the wicket of Deal, lbw for 16. Fellow opening batsman Duncan did not last much longer and was dismissed by Harris for six, caught at mid-wicket.

Tauseef Jan and Tim Moynihan then looked to get on top of the Royston bowlers and for a few overs looked well set. However, the introduction of Paul Miller (8-0-34-2) into the attack saw the departure of Jan (22). Moynihan looked to be the key wicket though and at 119-3, Ashwell looked well in the game.

Jon Harper’s (8-0-52-3) crafty medium pace eventually did for Moynihan (39) as wickets began to fall regularly. Josh Hughes (4-3-4-1) came into the attack late to wrap things up, bowling immaculately to take the final wicket and trigger a convincing and much deserved 61 run victory for the Crows.

Skipper Paul Harris said: “We’ve now played six and won five, the win over Ashwell being our third on the bounce. Abington away next week will prove to be an important game and one that we need to win. We’re in good form though and playing well, so we are highly confident of getting the result we want.”