In County Cup matches for our youth teams this week both bowed out at the first round stage with emphatic defeats in Oxford.

Monday May12th

Horspath Under 15 v Minster Lovell Under 15
Horspath won by 10 wickets

In a rain affected match Minster batted first reaching 44 for 8 in 10 overs, a target chased down comfortably by the home side.

Thursday May 15th

Wolvercote Under 13 v Minster Lovell Under 13
Wolvercote won by 92 runs

Wolvercote batted first and posted a mighty 168 for 2. A tough night for our bowlers with Jack Rimell with a wicket and the best figures standing out. In reply we managed 76 for 7 , Grayson Summers fine form continues with a retirement on 30 runs.

Both our teams had tough cup draws this season. We take the positive that both our teams are at the younger end of the age group cycle and were drawn against teams at the older end and that ultimately this is development cricket. We move on and look forward to our next round of league games.

The first week of Cherwell league Cricket saw wins for our first and second elevens and defeat for our very young third eleven. Our Sunday Sharks started their season with a win and some special milestones to report

Saturday May 10th
Minster Lovell 1st XI v Wolverton Town
Minster Lovell won by 3 wickets
Wolverton batted first and made a steady start reaching 120-5 before losing 5 wickets for only 9 runs . 5 wickets for Olly Mersh supported by 2 from Eddie Dunn and 1 each from James Mutton and Leigh Smith, also a fine run out from James Mattinson completed the innings in the 40th over.
In reply after an explosive start Minster reached the target in the 29th over. A quickfire 25 from James Mattinson in 11 balls signalling the intent to chase this target down as soon as possible. Tight bowling and regular wickets then restricted the scoring but a fine 41 from Eddie Dunn brought the team home after a few scares.

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Hanborough 2 v Minster Lovell 2nd XI
Minster Lovell won by 4 wickets
Almost a copy of the first team game with Hanborough reaching 130 All Out in the 41st over. 3 wickets for Harvey Yates, 2 each for Captain Tony Gardner and Mark Goodwin, one for Connor O’Brien as well as Run Outs from Goodwin and Yates.
Minster chased down the total in 31 overs , a fine opening stand between Harvey Yates and Charlie Driver setting the tone for the reply with Darren Hall top scoring with 34 and Tony Gardner bringing the team home.

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Kingston Bagpuize 3 v Minster Lovell 3rd XI
Kingston Bagpuize won by 161 runs
A young Minster Lovell team fell to defeat at Kingston Bagpuize. The home team posted 235 – 7 off their 40 overs. Credit to our young bowlers, all who have come through our youth pathway with wickets for Freddie Taylor, Rufus Jones, Jacob Clue and Finlay Lomas.
In reply a fantastic opening partnership of 62 between the not so young Kevin Clue(42) and Rufus Jones(21) suggested an upset may be on the cards but the rest of the batting fell away and we finished all out on 74

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Sunday May 10th Blenheim CC v Minster Lovell Sunday Sharks
Minster Lovell Won by 9 wickets
Blenheim batted first and scored 212 -7 in their 40 overs. As usual on Sundays the bowling was shared amongst the team. Special mention for Grayson Summers making his open aged men’s debut who became one of the youngest player’s to take a wicket for Minster Lovell cc in men’s cricket bowling really well to take 1-37.
Both the other young Shark players Freddie Taylor 2-18 and Jacob Clue 0-30 bowled extremely well. James Mutton was the best of the other bowlers with 2-11 and O Mersh 6 -3-10-0 .

Minster Lovell cc players Fin Spearman 33 and Harvey Yates 27 batted really well for Blenheim and late call up Mark Golledge with a fine 50 not out. After tea Marc Summers put on his pads for the first time in 10 years and walked to the crease with Kevin Clue who had just completed keeping wicket for 40 overs on a diificult pitch. They smashed the Blenheim attack to all parts of the ground putting on 201 for the first wicket with Kevin Clue falling 4 runs short of a well deserved century. This left Marc Summers to score 100 not out and take the sharks to a well deserved win. Both of these players played really well and it was a joy to watch .

Blenheim cc 212-7 M Golledge 50 no A Awais 41 F Spearman 33 H Yates 27
Sharks Bowling J Mutton 2-11 F Taylor 2-18 G Summers 1-37 C O’Brien 1-40 T Gardner 1-10 C Ayris 0-15 O Mersh 0-10 K Bushnell 0-34 J Clue 0-30
Sharks Batting 213-1 Marc Summers 100 no 3x6’s - 12x 4’s Kevin Clue 96 - 16x4’s Olly Mersh 2no
Blenheim Phil Spearman 1-35

Thanks to Richard Rendell for scoring

Sunday May 4th Under 11s v Kingston Bagpuize

It was great to see a large crowd at Brize Norton on a cold Sunday morning to witness the start of something new and exciting..

This is a new team and our most important objective was that everyone should bat and bowl. For a number of our team this was their first hardball match, the first time playing on a grass wicket, some of our players had not met each other before. It’s a lot to absorb for parents, players and coaches !

It was no surprise to us that Kingston Bagpuize reached our total of 65 in 9 overs, but we take away the beginning of learning how to perform in outdoor conditions which is very different to training with each other indoors. We will now work on all these points in training and in matches and we look forward to seeing a gradual improvement as we move deeper into the season.

The scorecard is available on Play Cricket. It was uploaded by our opponents and for some reason does not show that Dylan was retired after 25 balls and returned. Congratulations Dylan and also to every batter, its not easy going out to face a hard ball in a match for the first time, we even managed 2 fours . There are many positives from this performance and credit to the whole team

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Monday May 5th Under 15s Away v Freeland West Oxfordshire Warriors

MLCC Won by 33 runs

Congratulations to our new Under 15 team on a well earned victory to start the season.
Batting first we put up a target of 160 with big scores from Freddie Taylor(45 not out). Finlay Horne(39) and Jack Herbert (27). In reply Freeland made 127 for 7, 2 wickets each for Freddie Taylor and Jacob Clue, other wickets coming from Sam Leahy, Finley Horne and Arthur Whitlock

Full Scorecard on News and results Scorecard tab

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Thursday May 8th Under 13 Mavericks Home v Witney Mills

MLCC Won by 8 wickets

Congratulations also to our new under 13 Mavericks team who chased down Mills 134 - 9 with 10 balls remaining to record a fine win.
On our fielding side everyone bowled with good economy rates . 2 wickets each for Emma , Charlie and Luke, single wickets for Mylo and Grayson and a run out from Jack.
In our reply we only lost 2 wickets , Jack (32) and Mylo (27) both retired with good strike rates , supported by good scores from Alfie, Dillon, Charlie and Emma

A fine all round team performance

Full Scorecard on News and results Scorecard tab

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Friday May 9th Under 13 Sharks Away v Great & Little Tew

MLCC Won by 3 Wickets

Another tight bowling performance from our under 13s, restricting Great Tew to 110 for 6 in their 20 overs, particularly noting that everyone on our fielding side bowled. Two wickets for Joel and one each for Mylo, Dillon, Sam and Bella.

Not an easy chase but we made it in the 17th over with Dillon with a retired 30 off 18 balls and useful innings from Sam , Mylo and Charlie securing another fine victory

Full Scorecard on News and results Scorecard tab

Some promising performances over the weekend in preparation for the first Cherwell League matches on May 10th. Captains have taken the opportunity to give as many players game time as possible.

Saturday May 3rd Friendly - Shipton under Wychwood v Minster Lovell 1st XI
Minster Lovell Won by 5 Runs
Minster batted first and a number of partnerships carried the team to a total of 210-9 after their 50 overs. James Mattinson and Charlie Driver got the innings off to a strong start, putting on an opening stand of 49 and this was followed by Harry Ebsworth and Olly Mersh with the highest partnership. They weathered a brilliant spell of bowling from Shipton’s Callum Taylor, who was in fine form and had the ball on a string. Despite the tight bowling, Nathan Harris (18) and Callum Ardron (29) pushed the total forward, continuing to bat with intent. A strong final partnership between Cameron Ayris (20*) and James Mutton (13*) pushed the MLCC total beyond 200.
In reply, James Mutton and Louis Schaay-Manning opened the bowling for MLCC, working in tandem to restrict the scoring early on. Schaay-Manning was particularly impressive, taking the wickets of Shipton’s top three batters with a controlled and skilful display of bowling. However, the hosts’ middle order fought back, with notable contributions from Callum Taylor (29), Arun White (22), and their captain Jamie Nelson (45).

Mark Goodwin took three key wickets in a crucial spell and Nathan Harris also deserves an honourable mention for his tight bowling, completing 9 wicketless but economical overs that kept the pressure building. A couple of sharp catches from James Mattinson kept the fielding side on top.

As the game entered the final stages, tight bowling from Mutton, O'Brien, and Mersh meant Shipton needed eight runs from the final over. Harris was entrusted with the task, and he delivered, keeping the Shipton batsmen from finding the boundary.

In the end, MLCC held their nerve and clinched a thrilling five-run victory, defending 210. This was a fantastic 50/50 preseason friendly, played in a competitive spirit, and it stands the team in excellent stead for the upcoming season. The contributions from every player were vital, leaving the team in good form as they head into the first week of the Cherwell Cricket League.

Key Batting Performances:
- Olly Mersh: 37 runs (47 balls, 5 fours, 1 six)
- James Mattinson: 31 runs (41 balls, 5 fours, 0 sixes)
- Callum Ardron: 29 runs (30 balls, 4 fours, 0 sixes)

Top Bowling Figures:
- Louis Schaay-Manning: 10 overs, 2 maidens, 36 runs, 4 wickets.
- Mark Goodwin: 10 overs, 2 maidens, 37 runs, 3 wickets.
- Olly Mersh: 7 overs, 1 maiden, 21 runs, 1 wicket.
Follow the link in News and Results to view the full scorecard provided by our opponents. While the final scores are correct, the individual batting details may not be accurate.
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Saturday May 3rd Friendly Oxenford v Minster Lovell XI
Minster Lovell Won by 15 Runs
At Jesus College the ideal pre season game where both sides chose to give everyone a chance to bat and bowl with the Cherwell League season just a week away. Minster batted first in a 40 over match with only Harvey Yates of the top order batters able to make double figures. He did slightly more than that and scored a creditable 63 not out and batting throughout the innings. Late flurries from Felix jones and Freddie Driver took the score to 125 all out in the 34th over.
The Oxenford response followed the same pattern as the Minster innings with only Simran Singh of the top order making double figures, 50 in this case. Only one late flurry for them and they fell short by 15 runs. Freddie Driver with 3 for 17 and Felix Jones 2 for 9 the pick of the bowlers . Wickets each for Paul Ridler, Courtney Stirling, Rufus Jones, Harvey Yates and Jacob Clue completed the victory.
Follow the link in News and Results to view the full scorecard
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Sunday May 4th Friendly Isis v Minster Sunday Sharks
Isis won by 34 Runs
At Freeland Captain Tony Gardner gave up the toss for the second week to give his young side bowling opportunities. Opening bowlers Freddie Driver ( 2-12 ) and Connor ‘O Brien (0-11 ) bowled 10 overs between them producing great line and length keeping the Isis batsman very quiet . Tony himself took 2 wickets with one each for Freddie Taylor and Tom Pollard. Special mention for 400th Minster Lovell wicket for Keiren Bushnell . The rest of the young players bowled and fielded very well to restrict Isis cc to 187-7
With the temperature dropping and jumpers needed after Tea Minster the Sharks were bowled out for 153. Connor O’Brien completed a good personal weekend with a well made 28 and a partnership of 80 from Tony Gardner (45) and Seamus Rowles (28) were the batting highlights. This was, however a great effort against a more senior team. The game was played in great spirit and we look forward to our next Sunday friendly next week at Blenheim