Balliol lose cloak of invincibility
Wadham.........................................208-9
Balliol.....................................147 all out
Wadham won by 61 runs
Wadham dealt an early blow to Balliol’s hopes of retaining the title, beating them comprehensively at the Jowett Walk ground last Wednesday. Having thrashed St Anne’s on the opening day of the season, Balliol were undone here by their failure to contain Wadham’s aggression. Batting first, Wadham wasted no time in asserting their authority, Joe England and Will Smith opening positively. After removing Smith and Kemp, Balliol were repelled by some merciless hitting from Jim Copeman.
After Copeman perished, and England followed for a fine half-century, Balliol looked to have restored parity. But a frenetic partnership between ul-Haq and Hughes kept Wadham’s momentum, helping them towards a formidable score of 208-9. This was a tall order for a Balliol side missing batsmen Pete Dunbar and Tom Bilyard. Balliol lost two early wickets. Jim Head began to rescue Balliol’s chase, but well behind the run rate and being removed by Kemp for 47, they looked doomed.
The rest of the batting line-up collapsed, leaving Balliol well short on 147, and with a lot of ground to make up in the race for the title.
11th May 2006