SweetFuels CDCA Div Three

Langford II 186-9.

Fairford II 191-5.

FAIRFORD'S 2nd XI stayed top of CDCA Division Three after a five-wicket win was gained in the final over at Langford.

Fairford won the toss and established early control with the ball, despite a well-made 40 by the home side's Dave Owen.

The wickets were shared between Harvey New (3-29), Jack Grierson (2-36), Louis Cusack (2-46) and Ferdi Van der Heiden (2-32), his first senior wickets for the club.

The bowlers were backed up by good work in the field, particularly from the Coxhead family, as Jordan took two catches and Mike a third with an outstanding full-length diving effort at square leg.

Fairford looked to be on top with Langford struggling at 135-9 after 30 overs. However, numbers 10 and 11, Charlie Brown (20*) and Fran Bradley (30*) batted sensibly together with few alarms to take the home side's final score up to a challenging 186-9.

After tea Brown and Bradley put on their bowling boots to reduce the visitors to 28-4 in the 13th over. Colin Denness joined Louis Cusack at the crease in this unpromising position and both batted superbly, defending stoutly, running well between the wickets and finding the boundary with increasing regularity as the innings went on.

Their match-winning partnership of 129 gradually brought the required run rate down to the point at which 25 were needed off the last five overs.

Cusack eventually perished for an excellent 62, leaving Denness to see the team home in style with a majestic six over square leg off the second ball of the last over.

He made 76* out of the visitors' 191-5.